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British and Canadian frigates depart Plymouth to join carrier strike force
22 April 2025
Plymouth-based frigate HMS Richmond today left the city to join the UK’s flagship on the Royal Navy’s headline deployment of 2025.
The submarine hunter, which left Devonport Naval Base this morning, will spend most of the next eight months protecting aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales and other ships which make up the UK Carrier Strike Group.
She was waved on her way by families who gathered as sailors have done for decades at Devil’s Point.
An hour later, she was followed into Plymouth Sound by Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec which is also assigned to the carrier force for much of the remainder of 2025.
The group will work with NATO allies in the Mediterranean before moving on to the Indo-Pacific region with major exercises off Japan and Australia, before making the return journey and home in time for Christmas.
Richmond is the shield to the aircraft carrier’s sword, part of the ring of steel drawn around the task group to protect it from hostile eyes and ears as well as potential threats.
In the case of HMS Richmond, in sync with her Merlin Mk2 helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, the first duty is to keep hostile submarines at a long arm’s length from the allied force.
Beyond that she can be called upon for a host of duties and missions: board and search operations to counter smuggling/drug-running/terrorist activity, provide air defence with her Sea Ceptor missiles, naval gunfire support should targets ashore need pounding, disaster relief and much more.
“I am eager to embark on what promises to be a challenging and rewarding deployment as part of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group,” said Commander Richard Kemp, HMS Richmond’s Commanding Officer.
“My team in HMS Richmond have worked incredibly hard to prepare themselves and the Ship for the exciting period ahead and I am extremely proud of their efforts.”
Between now and December, the Carrier Strike Group will conduct a series of exercises and operations with air, sea and land forces of a dozen allies in the Mediterranean, Middle East, South-east Asia, Japan and Australia.
I am eager to embark on what promises to be a challenging and rewarding deployment as part of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group.
The goal is to demonstrate UK and allied collective resolve and determination to maintain security and freedom from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Leading Hand Martin Tutchings, one of the frigate’s weapons engineers, added: “I’m really excited to deploy and do what I joined the Navy to do, travel the world and contribute to operations around the globe.”
Equally excited are the crew of HMCS Ville de Québec, which sailed from Halifax earlier this month. Her crew have enjoyed a couple of days in Plymouth before departing Devonport.
The Canadians have been training more than a year for their part in the deployment – the first to the Indo-Pacific in the 30-plus-year career of the Ville de Québec. Her Commanding Officer Commander Peter MacNeil RCN describe the mission as “incredible deployment”.
He added: “The crew has worked incredibly hard to get the ship ready and to represent Canada and the Royal Canadian Navy globally – with some of the absolute finest people Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces has to offer.”
Making up the rest of the Carrier Strike Group initially are air defence destroyer HMS Dauntless from Portsmouth in company with the flagship, two Norwegian vessels – tanker HNoMS Maud and frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen – coming directly from Norway and tanker/support ship RFA Tidespring which has been training around the UK after an overhaul in Birkenhead.