Carrier Strike Group assembles for Nato's historic Exercise Steadfast Defender
Meet the Steadfast Defender 24 carrier task group – which has assembled for Nato's biggest military exercise since the Cold War.
HMS Prince of Wales has begun participating in the Nato exercise, sailing under STRIKFORNATO's command-and-control to participate in the landmark Allied exercise.
The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, deployed by the Royal Navy on short notice, hosts the UK Carrier Strike Group battle staff taking centre stage, leading the multinational group of warships heading towards northern Europe.
HMS Prince of Wales will be acting as a "well-defended, mobile airfield offering maritime and air agility to deter adversaries and defend allies".
This historic deployment will involve exercises from Greece to Norway, demonstrating Nato's commitment to defend the alliance's shared values.
The carrier and her task force practised sailing in close formation and learned how different navies operate as they began Joint Warrior, one aspect of Steadfast Defender – testing the readiness of the UK Carrier Strike Group and its ability to deter threats.
The Royal Navy said: "The close manoeuvring was a chance to test the navigation officers and bridge teams of all the ships involved, as they overcame language barriers and sailing ships of varying sizes in tight formation."
The group is made up of Royal Navy frigate HMS Portland and tanker RFA Tideforce, which joined Prince of Wales last week, and their numbers were bolstered by Royal Canadian ship Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Charlottetown; Spanish Navy Alvaro de Bazan-class air defence frigate SNS Cristobal Colon and Danish Navy Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate HMDS Niels Juel.
This is one of the biggest Nato exercises to be held in decades and involves tens of thousands of troops, dozens of aircraft and ships working across the North Atlantic to test how the alliance would reinforce and defend itself in the event of being attacked.
Originally, HMS Queen Elizabeth was due to participate, but due to mechanical issues had to be withdrawn at very short notice.
Instead, HMS Prince of Wales, at 30 days' notice for sea and preparing for a major maintenance period, was made ready to deploy and sailed just eight days later.
'Enjoyable challenge'
HMS Prince of Wales navigator Lieutenant Commander Tom Parsons said: "Bringing together warships from different countries is always an enjoyable challenge, especially when we manoeuvre as closely as we have done so today.
"Although we may all speak different languages day to day, today is proof that there is no barrier to us operating as a single Carrier Strike Group.
"My bridge team and I are looking forward to the coming weeks as we get to know our Nato allies better as we tackle increasingly demanding exercises side by side."
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