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Royal Navy flagship begins next stage of global mission after Suez and Red Sea passage
3 June 2025
Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales starts the next stage of her global mission after safe passage into the Indian Ocean flanked by escort warships and auxiliaries.
Accompanied by her task force of warships and aircraft – together, known as the UK Carrier Strike Group – the carrier navigated the world-famous link between the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea.
Sandwiched between the stark beauty of the Egyptian desert, the Carrier Strike Group sailed through the Canal last week to reach warmer waters and the Indo-Pacific phase of her eight-month deployment.
In doing so – the first venture of HMS Prince of Wales this far east – the carrier passed iconic sights Royal Navy sailors of years past will know well: from the Canal Memorial of the Inter-War period to the more recent impressive Al Salam / Friendship / Peace Bridge which stretches for 1,325 feet across the canal some three dozen miles from Port Said – and clears the water by 230ft.
The Suez and Red Sea transit marks the end of a month of exercises and operations in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Highlights of the opening phase of the global deployment included teaming up with the Italian Carrier Strike Group and bringing together an allied force of some 21 warships, three submarines, 41 fast jets, 19 helicopters, ten patrol aircraft and 8,000 personnel in the Ionian Sea.
Once through Suez, the Carrier Strike Group transited the Red Sea before emerging in the Indian Ocean for the next leg the deployment.
HMS Dauntless, HMS Richmond, Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Admundsen, Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec and Spanish frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez all accompanied HMS Prince of Wales – with her deck filled with F-35B jet and Merlin and Wildcat helicopters – through the waterways into the Indian Ocean.
Led by Prince of Wales and involving a dozen nations, the eight-month mission – known as Operation Highmast – will take the task group to the western Pacific Rim via the Mediterranean and Middle East with a series of large-scale exercises with Britain's allies and partners.
The goal is to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to the security of the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific region, demonstrate collective resolve with allies and showcase British trade and industry.
Over the course of the deployment, upwards of 4,500 British military personnel will be involved, including nearly 600 RAF and 900 soldiers alongside 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines.