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Aircraft carrier left port one day late

The HMS 'Prince of Wales' has left Portsmouth a day late on Feb 12 after postponing its scheduled departure at the last minute. The aircraft carrier, which was due to sail on Feb 11, is replacing the HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' on a NATO exercise after it broke down a week earlier. There were delays in getting the vessel's systems and equipment ready after its maintenance. Report with photo: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-68277887

Prince of Wales replacing troubled sister ship in NATO exercise

The HMS 'Prince of Wales' was prepared to set sail on Feb 11, 2024, a week after its sister ship HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' was forced to cancel its deployment because of an issue with its propeller shaft. The fleet flagship had been expected to depart from Portsmouth Naval Base on Feb 4 to lead the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War, involving more than 40 vessels. But the sailing of the warship was called off at the last minute after the problem was found in final checks with the starboard propeller coupling. Since the cancellation was announced, the crew and base workers have been busily preparing the HMS 'Prince of Wales' to take over its sister ship’s role in Exercise Steadfast Defender. As part of the preparations, scaffolding which was seen on the carrier’s flight deck has been removed ready for the sailing. The ship had been just beginning a planned maintenance period and among other projects, her flight deck was covered in tents and scaffolding in preparation for work to start on reapplying CAMREX (non-skid paint) and heat-resistant coatings (TMS – Thermal Metallic Spray) to the flight deck.

Aircraft carrier set off again one year after breakdown

On Sep 1, 2023, the HMS 'Prince of Wales' set sail for exercises off the US, more than one year after it broken propeller a few miles into a similar trip across the Atlantic after leaving Portsmouth Naval Base in August 2022 off the Isle of Wight and was brought under tow back into harbour. After nine months of repairs at Babcock shipyard in Rosyth, Fife, it returned to the Portsmouth Naval Base on Aug 4. During the three-month deployment, the carrier will carry out exercises with drones for delivering supplies without the use of helicopters, landing and launching F-35B Lightning stealth fighters and operating with Osprey tilt rotor aircraft from the US Marine Corps. The carrier and its 750 crew members are set to return to the UK by Christmas.