Phenomenal, the epitome of teamwork and always ready: Commander's verdict of CSG25
CSG25 may have only just come to an end after eight months at sea but the UK remains on permanent readiness, the Commander UK Carrier Strike Group has insisted.
"This carrier strike group, it doesn't stop. We've now declared this capability," said Commodore James Blackmore, referring to HMS Prince of Wales and Lightning Force achieving Full Operating Capability.
"We hold it at readiness permanently. It's why we have two carriers," he told BFBS Forces News reporter Claire Sadler, referring to Prince of Wales and her sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Ready Aye Ready
"And you know the people, the equipment, the aircraft, at a time and place of choosing, are ready," he added.
"Of course, there's a programme next year. There's another deployment that goes off in April. And yeah, we'll be preparing and being ready for that, but always being ready."
Cdre Blackmore said of this year's deployment: "It's been phenomenal. It's been the epitome of teamwork.
"I couldn't be more proud of the 3,000 sailors, marines, aviators and soldiers who have supported this incredible deployment to the Indo-Pacific and back over the last eight months."
Maintaining morale
He said port visits and the opportunity they gave personnel to see more of the world helped boost morale.
"We've had some incredible port visits," he explained. "We've taken the team to Singapore, to Darwin in Australia, to Tokyo in Japan and, of course, Mumbai and Goa in India.
"That's kept morale high because we've been able to offer them [the chance] to see the world they've not seen before."
Seeing what Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales had to offer outside of her operational capability was also a morale-booster.
"Being able to take some time within the carrier, that's important, when we can open the flight deck, allow people to go for a run, do a park run in the southern hemisphere.
"They're the sort of things that really keep morale ticking over," he said.
Partnerships, performance and power in the air
Cdre Blackmore said the value gained from working with these partnerships had been huge.
"We went to the Indo-Pacific to show our support for rules-based international order," he explained.
"Doing that as an international carrier strike group, in my mind, really just realises why we went there and what we did.
"We worked with some phenomenal countries. We undertook some incredible exercises. And that allowed us to develop the Carrier Strike Group so that we came back stronger than we departed, declaring Full Operating Capability for Nato."
Cdre Blackmore admitted it had been busy, but said it had been gradual, giving the example of the F-35B Lightnings on board HMS Prince of Wales, which at one point were bolstered by additional jets from the Italian navy.
"I think how in the last seven years we've built up from the very first recovery of an F-35 in 2018, which I was privileged to be there for, all the way to where we are now – with 24 embarked in the carrier, two full sovereign squadrons.
"Of course it was busy, but we did it incrementally. And in fact, we went above 24 with the Italian jets as well. And that just allowed us to be really confident in the capability we've got."
Quality time for tired personnel
After all that hard work, the personnel involved on CSG25 can now look forward to spending some time with their loved ones.
He said: "Everyone's going to get some Christmas leave, some well-earned Christmas leave.
"There's some tired people who need to spend some good quality time with their families."
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