HMS Prince of Wales welcomed home in Portsmouth after huge Nato exercises

Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has returned home to Portsmouth after taking part in Exercise Steadfast Defender – Nato's biggest exercise since the Cold War.

A Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, completed Exercise Joint Warrior, which was one part of Steadfast Defender, earlier this month.

The 65,000-tonne vessel's triumphant Solent return was livestreamed on the Forces News YouTube channel, which you can rewatch in full here.

• Home waters protected as HMS Prince of Wales completes first phase of Steadfast Defender
• Behind the scenes of Royal Navy control centre keeping watch of turbulent Red Sea
• HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives on the Forth ahead of vital repair work to propeller

Crowds lined Portsmouth's city walls to wave and welcome the sailors home.

Watch: HMS Prince of Wales' return to Portsmouth in full here

During the Nato training, HMS Prince of Wales was joined by more than 30 ships, four submarines, multiple aircraft from maritime patrol aircraft to F-35 Lightning jets and more than 20,000 personnel from nations including Canada, Denmark, France and Spain.

HMS Queen Elizabeth had initially been scheduled to lead the exercise, but she had to withdraw due to an issue with her propeller shaft, leading HMS Prince of Wales to step in.

Despite being given a 30-day notice, HMS Prince of Wales got ready for deployment in just a week.

Before deployment, HMS Prince of Wales was in the early stages of a maintenance period when the decision was made to sail her.