Operation HIGHMAST, the second deployment of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, is underway led by HMS Prince of Wales.
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HMS Prince of Wales left Portsmouth yesterday, 22 March, as she prepares to lead an international task force to the Indo-Pacific on an eight-month mission to demonstrate UK and allied collective resolve and determination to maintain security and freedom from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
This mission, known as Operation HIGHMAST, is the second deployment of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, the first led by HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021, and will be commanded by Commodore James Blackmore. The deployment will begin with around 2,500 military personnel – roughly 2,100 Britons, 200 Norwegians and a similar number of Canadians, and Spanish – rising to over 4,500 for some of the key exercises as the force reaches the Indo-Pacific.
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.
HMS Prince of Wales will be accompanied on Operation HIGHMAST by:
- Type 45 destroyer, HMS Dauntless, also sailing from Portsmouth.
- Two Norwegian vessels – tanker HNoMS Maud and frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen – coming directly from Norway.
- Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond and Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec, departing from Plymouth.
- Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tidespring, joining the task group in the Channel.
Source: Royal Navy
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