Second Sea Lord thanks crew as Norwegian warship with Navy Wildcat joins CSG25

The Second Sea Lord has offered his personal thanks to the crew of a Norwegian warship carrying a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter as she departed Bergen to join the UK-led Carrier Strike Group.

Vice Admiral Sir Martin Connell was in Norway for the departure of HNoMS Roald Amundsen, who will spend the next eight months operating as part of Operation Highmast under the command of HMS Prince of Wales.

The Norwegian frigate is embarking a Fleet Air Arm Wildcat HMA2 from 815 Naval Air Squadron, supported by a Royal Navy engineering team.

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"A great send off for HNoMS Roald Amundsen and their embarked Royal Navy Wildcat this morning in Bergen, Norway at the start of Op Highmast, the Carrier Strike Group deployment," VAdm Sir Martin posted on X.

"I offered my words of support and gratitude to the ship's company immediately before sailing, alongside Minister of Defence Sandvik and the Norwegian Chief of Navy. Another excellent example of Allied Naval integration."

The ship is one of Norway's Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates - the main surface combatants of the Royal Norwegian Navy - and is named after the Arctic explorer.

HNoMS Roald Amundsen is equipped with a 76mm OTO Melara Super Rapid gun, Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles for air defence and the Norwegian-designed Naval Strike Missile (NSM), which is also in service on HMS Richmond, another ship in the group.

The Wildcat helicopter embarked on the Norwegian frigate is from 815 Naval Air Squadron, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.

The squadron provides global helicopter capability to Royal Navy ships, including frigates and destroyers, and plays a key role in anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.

Led by Commander James Woods, 815 NAS operates the HMA2 version of the Wildcat, which can deliver lethal firepower across multiple domains.

Its primary role is the delivery of 'lethal fires', including Martlet and Sea Venom missiles, Sting Ray torpedoes and the M3M heavy machine gun.

Operation Highmast is part of Carrier Strike Group 25's wider deployment, which will see the task group conduct exercises and port visits with partners including the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia before joining 19 partner nations for Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia.

Norway is also contributing a second vessel, HNoMS Maud - a replenishment ship of the same design as the UK's RFA Tidespring, which is also part of the deployment.

For more reports about Carrier Strike Group 25 click here.