The Royal Navy’s largest ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is heading to Liverpool for a week-long visit, marking her first stay in the city since March 2020.
The aircraft carrier’s seven-day visit will include community engagement, public tours, and a Freedom of the City parade, according to a press release.
Entry is by ticket only and you must apply in advance by clicking here.
The Portsmouth-based warship, affiliated with Liverpool, will dock at the Cruise Liner Terminal on Monday, December 2, following training exercises in UK waters. The visit offers the ship’s 800-strong crew, including local sailors, the chance to connect with the community and highlight their contributions to the Royal Navy.
Commanding Officer Captain Will Blackett expressed pride in bringing the carrier back to Liverpool, a city with deep historical ties to the Royal Navy. He noted that the visit is a culmination of rigorous autumn training, providing an opportunity for the crew to showcase their work. “The ship’s company deserve recognition for their remarkable efforts, and this visit allows us to show you what we do,” he stated.
Among the crew is Sub Lieutenant Yasemin Dilek, a junior marine engineering officer from Liverpool, who described the carrier as her “home away from home.” She highlighted the ship’s connection to the city through its Liverpool-themed passageway names, adding, “The first sight of those two Liver birds, set against our gorgeous city skyline, will be a highlight I will cherish for the rest of my career.”
During the visit, the ship will host public tours on December 7 and 8, welcoming 10,000 guests each day. Tickets are required and can be obtained in advance. Visitors will experience a glimpse of life aboard the 932-foot warship, which serves as a floating symbol of British maritime strength and innovation.
A central event will be the Freedom Parade on December 6, celebrating HMS Prince of Wales’ status as a recipient of Liverpool’s highest civic honour. The ship will also honour its ties with the city by renaming a passageway after Penny Lane, complete with a street sign donated by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Richard Kemp.
Cllr Kemp expressed the city’s pride in the affiliation, saying, “We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming HMS Prince of Wales back to Liverpool. I know many local people will be keen to go on board to have a look around and learn more about the important work of HMS Prince of Wales in keeping our nation safe.”
The carrier will depart Liverpool on December 9, with family members of the crew joining the journey back to Portsmouth to experience life at sea.
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They don’t do this in its home port of Portstmouth!
better lock all doors and hatches, those Scousers will nick anything they can get their hands on
This joke went out in the 1980’s and is seriously boring now 😴😴😴
The RN’s PR machine is in desperate overdrive where the carriers are concerned. Judging by the increasing number of articles in the Daily Telegraph that quote anonymous sources as saying that the Treasury is championing that SDR mothballs or sells off the carriers. Unfortunately the Treasury’s proposal view seems to be getting a lot of backing, apparently not helped by the SDR review team including General Sir Richard Barrons (a long standing and vocal opponent of the RN’s carrier program), but no Admiral. Presumably the final decision will be made by Starmer, hopefully he will follow Brown’s lead, not Cameron’s.
The Daily Telegraph isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
If we can trust anything about Labour at the moment, big shifts like mothballing the carriers are very unlikely. They’re trying to turn defence into a Labour strong point away from the Tories as a vote winner. Plus, it looks good to NATO if are bulky, especially with Trump’s curious thoughts on the organisation.
The DT is the leakers paper of choice where defence is concerned, so always worth keeping an eye on it – albeit with a pinch of salt for the more extreme stories. But the reality as far as the QEC are concerned is that it was amazing they were built as they barely scraped through defence review after review, and their modest utility to date compared to their cost gives the naysayers some leverage. It’s unfortunate that POW was not deployed to the Red Sea, the Foreign Office apparently leading the alliance that eventually persuaded PM Sunni to withhold his approval. The USA and USN were thus badly let down after being led to expect that the UK CSG would relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CSG in March, and it’s the kind of sore that will linger for years in the memories of senior US officials.
I wonder how many Chinese people will visit the ship
I’ve been on the ship, if the tour they get is anything like mine there’s nothing to see.
They even hid the laptops with the air traffic control programs on them.
Some great shots on board from the local rag
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/take-tour-hms-prince-wales-30497875