HMS Prince of Wales ready to sail on Sunday for Nato’s largest exercise

HMS Prince of Wales is ready to sail on Sunday for Nato’s largest exercise

The carrier is expected to leave Portsmouth at 12.15pm for Exercise Steadfast Defender, the alliance’s biggest exercise since the Cold War.

It’s been less than a week since the Royal Navy announced its flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, had to cancel her participation in Exercise Steadfast Defender because of an issue with her propellor shaft.

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Now, HMS Prince of Wales has been given the green-light to leave on Sunday, setting sail at lunchtime to take over her sister ship’s role.

She’ll join up with Nato allies in the North Sea before participating in exercises off the coast of Norway.

The UK will deploy 20,000 military personnel for Exercise Steadfast Defender 24.

It sees 31 Nato nations and Sweden taking part in a series of exercises across Europe to simulate repelling an invasion by Russian forces.

HMS Prince of Wales will now lead a carrier strike group consisting of eight ships, including the frigate HMS Somerset and two Tide-class tankers from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary – bolstered by support from vessels of the US, Spanish, and Danish navies.

Four P2000 ships also departed Portsmouth this week for their roles in the exercise.

HMS Queen Elizabeth's propellor "issue" comes 18 months after HMS Prince of Wales broke down off the Isle of Wight, when it also suffered a malfunction with a coupling on its starboard propeller.