THE Royal Navy has confirmed that HMS Prince of Wales will become the UK's new flagship - a matter of days after the huge aircraft carrier stopped off near Helensburgh.
The 65,000-tonne vessel becomes the flagship for the first time in her five-year Royal Navy career as she limbers up for the upcoming UK Carrier Strike Group 2025 operation, which will take the carrier and her task force east of the Suez Canal on a global mission.
Together with HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will regularly rotate the flagship title between them, with one ready to deploy at short notice for priority tasking and the other in routine maintenance.
As part of the ongoing preparation for the Carrier Strike Group deployment in 2025, we have arrived into Glen Mallan 🏴 for ammunitioning. pic.twitter.com/q29q0c3G6y
— HMS Prince of Wales (@HMSPWLS) November 22, 2024
HMS Prince of Wales was at Glen Mallan on Loch Long for resupply last week, having previously visited the area earlier this year.
The warship took on supplies from the Glen Douglas munitions depot, which underwent a £69 million upgrade in 2021.
Commanding Officer, Captain Will Blackett, said: “This is a proud moment for HMS Prince of Wales.
“We’ve been training hard, ably assisted by our sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth. We’re ready, we’re excited, and look forward to taking the next step in the ship’s life.”
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