The HMS Prince of Wales’ deployment could help restore deterrence to the Indo-Pacific.
The United Kingdom’s HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier is set to embark on a Western Pacific deployment later this month. Marking only the second time a British carrier has been dispatched to this region, the deployment, code-named Operation Highmast, is representative of the tense relationship between Beijing and the West. The last time the U.K. deployed a carrier strike group to the region occurred in 2021, led by the nation’s only other carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
According to Defense Minister Maria Eagle, “The focus now is to prepare for Op HIGHMAST, where HMS Prince of Wales will deploy with two embarked UK Front Line F-35 Squadrons. This Operation will display our global Carrier Strike reach, demonstrating the ability to deploy, operate and command a Carrier Strike Group consisting of two UK Lightning squadrons, with associated support.” As part of this carrier strike group, the U.K.’s 617 Squadron and 809 Naval Air Squadron, which are considered the Royal Air Force’s and Royal Navy’s premiere F-35 Lightning II squadrons, will deploy. Hostilities in the South China Sea between the People’s Republic of China and the West continue to mount, cementing the significance of the HMS Prince of Wales deployment in terms of deterrence.
An Overview of the Queen Elizabeth-class
HMS Queen Elizabeth was commissioned into the British Royal Navy in 2017 as the lead ship of its class. Two years later, HMS Prince of Wales joined its sistership, reaching operational capacity. Both these massive aircraft carriers displace roughly 65,000 tons and have expansive flight decks. The Queen Elizabeth warships can launch a variety of both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, including the F-35 Lightning II, and the Wildcat and Merlin Mk2 helicopters. Two Rolls Royce Marine Trent Mt30 36MW gas turbine generator units power the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers, unlike the nuclear power sources that are equipped on the American-made Nimitz ships.
While the Queen Elizabeth carriers are considered to be advanced, they recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons. During the international body’s Steadfast Defender drills off the coast of Norway this February, the HMS Queen Elizabeth broke down, and the HMS Prince of Wales never made it to the launch phase. Other than failing to partake in last year’s NATO exercise, both carriers have faced previous setbacks. In 2020, the Prince of Wales experienced significant flooding and subsequent damage to her electrical cabling. The overhaul process to rectify this mishap relegated the carrier to dry dock for nearly eight months, forcing it to withdrawal from its long-planned deployment to the United States where it was expected to undertake its initial F-35B trials. In August 2022, HMS Prince of Wales broke down and had to be towed into Portsmouth harbor, missing a scheduled exercise with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Royal Canadian Navy. Months later, a shaft onboard the Prince of Wales was discovered to require maintenance issues, forcing the carrier to undergo additional inspections.
If all goes to plan surrounding Prince of Wales’ Western Pacific deployment later this month, the British carrier’s reputation could be improved.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock.com
