Reservists’ key submarine role aboard carrier Queen Elizabeth
For the first time a team of submarine specialist naval reservists has mobilised to join HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Bolstering the carrier’s staff and providing additional expertise and experience, the team was particularly needed during a five-day test of the carrier and her battle group, Exercise Crimson Ocean.
The workout helped to hone and develop tactics and methods the carrier and her escorts will use to protect each other from threats above, on and beneath the waves.
Typically, the carrier strike group will comprise the flagship, plus an air defence destroyer, anti-submarine frigate, support/supply ship and a hunter-killer submarine… which could be used to both defend the task force from enemy surface ships and submarines, or take the fight to the enemy by launching long-range cruise missile strikes.
Its presence – as well as the ever-present threat of a hostile submarine – demands the presence of a specialist team on the carrier staff. Enter the Submarine Advisory Team.
“This marks an important milestone – the beginning of a 50-year partnership,” explained Commander Ben Horner from the Maritime Reserves’ submarine operations capability.
“Today's Submarine Advisory Team watchkeepers are leading the way for those who will support the carrier for many decades to come, supported by our specialist communicators who train and deploy alongside us.”
