The aircraft carrier Prince of Wales is on track to take over from her sister warship HMS Queen Elizabeth as nation’s flagship towards the end of 2024 after work to fix propeller shafts.
By Bill Heaney
Britain’s biggest warship is today ready to resume her duties at sea after nine months at dry dock in Rosyth undergoing upgrades and repairs.
The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales moved into the River Forth on Friday. Once at anchor and in deeper water, the ship’s team will prove machinery and bring her systems to life – before sailing under the iconic Forth Bridges on her way to Portsmouth.
The carrier will then build on her previous successes including acting as NATO’s command ship and leading the Maritime High Readiness Force in the Arctic before she takes over from HMS Queen Elizabeth as the nation’s flagship towards the end of 2024.
Captain Richard Hewitt praised the efforts of all who sought to return the carrier to front-line duties again, not least his 750-strong ship’s company, who have remained with the carrier throughout her time in Fife.
He said: “We are returning HMS Prince of Wales to operations as the most advanced warship ever built for the Royal Navy.
“This year we will be operating F-35s, V-22 Ospreys, drones and the RN Merlin helicopters – pushing the boundaries of naval aviation and UK Carrier Strike capability as we progress towards a global deployment in 2025.
“Our sailors are paramount to ensuring our return to operations. They have approached the task of getting us back to sea with the remarkable ethos that I have come to expect from them. They are a credit to the ship and the Royal Navy.”
Royal Navy engineers have been working alongside colleagues from Babcock and BAE Systems to fix the propeller shafts and carry out previously planned capability upgrade works.
Commander Helen Jones said: “The team on board have risen to the challenge of returning this ship to sea and we are looking forward to testing the systems and returning to operations for the Royal Navy.”
Sean Donaldson, Managing Director of Babcock’s Rosyth facility where the work has been carried out, added: “We are proud to have worked alongside the ship’s company of HMS Prince of Wales and the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support organisation to ready the ship for operations.
“Through our 10-year maintenance agreement with the MOD for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, we make their mission, our mission and we’re by their side enabling them to fulfil their duty.
“Our Rosyth facility is one of the UK’s most advanced waterside manufacturing and repair facilities and we have an expert team and world-class infrastructure ready to support customers whenever required.”
Throughout her time in Scotland the Ship’s Company have been carrying out training drills and exercises either aboard HMS Prince of Wales or ashore such as at facilities such as HMS Sultan and HMS Collingwood.
They have also supported school events in the area, hosted NATO delegates and VIPs, taken part in civic events including Remembrance Parades in Edinburgh, and assisted Border Force personnel during strikes over Christmas and Easter.
In all honesty the least said about this utter disgrace the better.
The saga of a brand new multi billion pound ship breaking down and having to be towed into the shipyard for 9 months of repair before it had hardly managed to get out of UK coastal waters on a trip to the USA makes the Royal Navy an absolute black farce laughing stock.
Training drills on a laid up disabled warship, crawing about the most advanced naval warship in the whole world, and building on the carriers previous success – these Navy types should shut up and give it a rest.
Like the multi billion pound nuclear sub marine that ran aground in Skye some years ago, this £3.2 m boat is just more of the same.