RN Aircraft Carriers: HMS Prince of Wales

[Pelican]

HMS Prince of Wales

Today, we say farewell to our Commanding Officer, Captain Hewitt OBE RN, who has overseen a successful 2023.
And a very warm welcome to Captain Will Blackett Royal Navy who has assumed Command of HMSPWLS.

See short video at - https://twitter.com/HMSPWLS/status/1742513002216034643

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout
Disappointing for hard-working crew of HMSQNLZ that have been at high readiness for a long time and not to blame for the issue with the propellor shaft.
HMSPWLS ship's company recalled from leave last night and already working to prepare the ship to sail as soon as possible.
Photo AWenham1: HMS Prince of Wales in early phases of maintenance work this week - this will now be accelerated.

[Pelican]

Steve A Wenham
All systems go! Go! Go! At Victory Jetty as HMS Prince of Wales is prepped for departure.
See - https://twitter.com/AWenham1/status/1754831686578077818

[Pelican]

"R09 TO DEPART PORTSMOUTH FOR EX JOINT WARRIOR AT 1215 SUNDAY 11TH FEBRUARY 2024!

The KHM Portsmouth has programmed R09 HMS Prince of Wales to depart her homeport to replace unavailable R08 HMS Queen Elizabeth on NATO Exercises Joint Warrior and Steadfast Defender at 1215 on Sunday 11th February 2024 as indicated in detail in the attached screenshot below.
This is excellent news and a testament to some rapid and hard work by the RN and its Contractors to get R09 up and ready when she was under scheduled maintenance and at 30 Day Notice to Move Low Readiness.
WELL DONE THE RN - Congratulations on doing in just a week what we knew you could do by having 2 carriers for this sort of contingency! BZ!"

[Pelican]

Rapid response – HMS Prince of Wales sails to replace her sister ship at short notice


Just a week after HMS Queen Elizabeth was withdrawn from exercise Steadfast Defender due to a defect, HMS Prince of Wales will sail on 10th February as her replacement (subject to the usual caveats about weather conditions).

This represents a staggering effort by the ship’s company and the support team in Portsmouth. PWLS was at 30 days’ notice to sail but has been prepared to sail in 7 days. Last weekend PWLS was 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.

PWLS ship’s company were recalled from weekend leave last Saturday and have been hard at work ever since. The rapid acceleration of activity presents challenges of many kinds for the personnel involved. An element of risk will be entailed around the material readiness of the ship itself, and in particular the preparedness of the crew for flying operations. Previously it had been planned that PWLS would gradually to take on the duties of flagship and high-readiness carrier in a crawl-walk-run series of steps of increasing complexity throughout 2024.

Until now PWLS has only embarked two F-35 jets and although many rotary wing types have also been handled onboard, these were mostly for flying trials evolutions. She has never before hosted an air group and the full complement of COMUKCSG battle staff. Embarking the air group involves taking on another 5-600 people in addition to the core ship’s company, all of which have to be safely delivered to the ship, integrated into life on board and produce effective operational outputs. A major logistic effort is required to store ship with assorted equipment to support the air group as well as the additional food and other items transferred from QNLZ to PWLS.

While QNLZ has built up experience of the air group embarkation process on several occasions, PWLS will have to learn fast. The Board of Enquiry report published following the loss of a jet in 2021 provides a timely reminder of how mistakes with minor procedural details can have big consequences. While theoretically all achievable, the work-up period will be a very steep learning curve for all concerned and require patience and understanding from everyone at all levels.

The effect of this upheaval on morale is likely to be mixed. Some on PWLS will dig out and be excited to be part of an outstanding team effort with a very obvious purpose. Others will be unhappy and may perceive it as pushing too hard with more time away from family and personal arrangements cancelled. This kind of sudden change of programme is to be expected as part of life in the navy but, more then ever before, the impacts of decisions on people need to be especially carefully considered. For many on QNLZ they will be delighted with more time at home but tempered with some professional disappointment at not being part of the culmination of much hard work.

As the high readiness carrier, QNLZ had an almost full load of air weapons, although this was due to be further enhanced by her 4th visit to the Northern Ammunition Jetty at Glen Mallan for another on-load before STDE24. Instead, PWLS is expected to visit Glen Mallan soon for the first time to fill her largely empty magazines while QNLZ follows later to conduct an off-load prior to docking in Rosyth.

The Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) were removed from PWLS while she was being repaired in Rosyth but were not replaced as she was heading to the Eastern Seaboard of the US where there is no perceived air threat. While it may make sense for a navy short of sailors to save the need for a few weapon maintainers, this kind of practice perhaps demonstrates a peacetime mentality where the focus is the next deployment in the programme rather than a mindset that is prepared for the unexpected. Unsurprisingly there has not been time in the last week to re-embark the 3 Phalanx mounts, set to work, certify and test them.

Before the main NATO exercise begins, the UKCSG will initially participate in Exercise Joint Warrior (JW24-1), which runs from 24th Feb – 3rd March and will be mostly conducted in the North Sea. This should provide some opportunity for further shakedown and work up before the main maritime element of STDE24, exercise Nordic Response, begins in the High North. The outputs that will be expected of PWLS during STDE24 are considerably beyond the capability of the ship’s company as it stands, never mind a potential operational deployment to the Red Sea. Despite the obvious challenges, recent events demonstrate the wisdom of having two aircraft carriers that provide a small measure of resilience and the RN’s ability to act decisively.

In the meantime the Navy says: “The cause of the issue with HMS Queen Elizabeth is wear and tear of her starboard propeller shaft coupling. On completion of initial investigations, HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail for Rosyth so any necessary repairs can be carried out in due course.” The propellor shaft coupling repair should be considerably simpler than rectifying the damage caused by the misalignment issues with PWLS’ shaft. QNLZ was due to begin her first major refit in 2025 but it is unclear at this stage if she will just have the shaft coupling issue fixed and return to operations or stay in Rosyth and effectively start the refit earlier than planned.

Source Navy Lookout

[jbryce1437]

"R09 TO DEPART PORTSMOUTH FOR EX JOINT WARRIOR AT 1215 SUNDAY 11TH FEBRUARY 2024!

The KHM Portsmouth has programmed R09 HMS Prince of Wales to depart her homeport to replace unavailable R08 HMS Queen Elizabeth on NATO Exercises Joint Warrior and Steadfast Defender at 1215 on Sunday 11th February 2024 as indicated in detail in the attached screenshot below.
This is excellent news and a testament to some rapid and hard work by the RN and its Contractors to get R09 up and ready when she was under scheduled maintenance and at 30 Day Notice to Move Low Readiness.
WELL DONE THE RN - Congratulations on doing in just a week what we knew you could do by having 2 carriers for this sort of contingency! BZ!"

Latest buzz is that her sailing has been delayed for two days

Jim

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout 4h [ago]
HMS Prince of Wales planned departure from Portsmouth this morning delayed.
Likely to sail tomorrow lunchtime instead.

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout
Wildcats arriving on board HMS PWLS ahead of departure later today.

[Pelican]

Today's departure, go to - https://twitter.com/alisdairtaylor - and scroll down for photos & videos.

[Pelican]

A few words from the Cdr. of PoW - https://twitter.com/i/status/1757089604916719852