A Maritime Medical Emergency Response Team from HMS Prince of Wales was scrambled to HMS Duncan in the Norwegian Sea during a training exercise that tested the carrier strike group’s ability to respond to a serious medical emergency at sea.

The exercise, which formed part of wider readiness training during Operation Firecrest, the carrier’s Nordic deployment, was triggered by a simulated casualty deep within HMS Duncan whose injuries were beyond the capabilities of the destroyer’s own medical team and sickbay. A Merlin helicopter from 820 Naval Air Squadron, normally configured for anti-submarine warfare, was reconfigured for casualty transport and scrambled with the MMERT team embarked.

The team comprises an emergency medicine and pre-hospital emergency medicine consultant, a paramedic, and a critical care transfer nurse, all trained to deliver advanced trauma care in maritime environments. Once aboard Duncan, the medics assessed the simulated casualty before carefully recovering them to the Merlin, providing critical care during the short flight back to the carrier and preparing the patient for further treatment.

According to the Royal Navy, it was the team’s first exercise with HMS Prince of Wales this year, having previously worked with HMS Somerset earlier in the spring.

Britain’s two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers hold the largest medical facilities in the Royal Navy’s surface fleet, including an operating theatre capable of treating the most serious injuries. The MMERT exists to extend that capability beyond the carrier itself, ensuring that sailors in other ships of the task group, or ashore, can access the same standard of emergency care. The concept mirrors that of a civilian air ambulance, with the Merlin serving as the delivery platform for a hospital-grade medical team that would otherwise be inaccessible to smaller vessels.