Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth Returns to Sea After Extended Repair Period
The Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) departed Saturday from Portsmouth, England, for a three-month deployment as the aircraft carrier prepares to return as the U.K. carrier strike group’s flagship. Queen Elizabeth will combine training and operations around the U.K. and Northern Europe. The three-month deployment marks the carrier’s return to service since it began a multi-phased maintenance and overhaul period in late 2024. Queen Elizabeth is expected in late 2027 to take the helm from sister ship HMS Prince of Wales (R09) as the U.K.’s flagship. According to a Royal Navy news release, Queen Elizabeth will conduct an intensive
HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) departed Sept. 5, 2026, from Portsmouth, England, for a three-month deployment. Royal Navy photo The Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) departed Saturday from Portsmouth, England, for a three-month deployment as the aircraft carrier prepares to return as the U.K. carrier strike group’s flagship.
Queen Elizabeth will combine training and operations around the U.K. and Northern Europe. The three-month deployment marks the carrier’s return to service since it began a multi-phased maintenance and overhaul period in late 2024.
Queen Elizabeth is expected in late 2027 to take the helm from sister ship HMS Prince of Wales (R09) as the U.K.’s flagship.
According to a Royal Navy news release, Queen Elizabeth will conduct an intensive training and operational program, working alongside allies to enhance collective security, deterrence and readiness. The carrier will undertake advanced training under the Royal Navy’s Flag Officer Sea Training organization, exercising across the full spectrum of modern naval warfare to ensure the carrier is ready to respond to emerging threats, reads the release.
Queen Elizabeth will also rehearse how an allied naval force would operate together in the event of a crisis.
The NATO flag raised aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) when it assumed the command ship role in July of 2026. Royal Navy photo The carrier, in July, assumed the role of NATO’s command ship for the Allied Response Force (Maritime), marking the first time a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier has undertaken this role.
“Sailing this autumn is a key milestone for both our NATO commitment, as the Afloat Command Platform and also on our journey back to the Royal Navy’s ‘very high readiness’ aircraft carrier, a duty we will resume from our sister ship HMS Prince of Wales in 2027,” said Capt. Claire Thompson, commanding officer of Queen Elizabeth.
The training program will continue into 2027, including participation in major NATO exercises, after which the carrier will then take over from Prince of Wales as the U.K.’s high readiness carrier.
Prince of Wales, meanwhile, is set to deploy later this year to begin the second phase of its Operation Firecrest deployment to the Atlantic, High North and Northern Europe.
“Britain will send its Carrier Strike Group back to sea in 2026 in a major show of force across the Euro-Atlantic and High North, reinforcing NATO’s deterrence at a time of rising Russian threats in the region,” stated a U.K. Ministry of Defense news release in February when announcing the deployment.
The first phase saw the U.K. CSG, led by Prince of Wales, conduct a three-month deployment from April to July in which it participated in NATO anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Mongoose around Norway, NATO air exercise Ramstein Flag, activities in support of NATO vigilance activity Arctic Sentry and, with the Spanish Navy Expeditionary Strike Group, NATO enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA) Neptune Strike 26-3 in the High North and North Atlantic. The U.K. CSG also carried out NATO’s Air Policing mission to safeguard the skies of Iceland and the Arctic from incursions by Russian aircraft.
During its deployment, Prince of Wales’ embarked F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft intercepted a Russian Tu-142 Bear F Maritime Patrol Aircraft on July 2 over the Norwegian Sea after it repeatedly approached the carrier.
The U.K. CSG’s second phase of Operation Firecrest is set to take place around Northern Europe and may involve participation in Neptune Strike 26-4, which takes place from Oct. 16-21 in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, according to an official NATO exercise and activity calendar.
“NEPTUNE STRIKE 26-4 is an enhanced Vigilance Activity spanning from the high north to the south. Participants will exercise Allied Striking Capabilities from multiple Carrier Strike Groups while integrating National and NATO Forces,” reads the note on Neptune Strike 26-4.
No information has been released on which carriers will participate in the drills.
