Royal Navy flagship sails past Gibraltar on eight-month deployment

The UK’s flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, is pictured sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar on Tuesday.

The vessel, which set off from Portsmouth last week, will travel through the Mediterranean to the Middle East, south-east Asia, Japan and Australia on an eight-month voyage, accompanied by escort ships from international allies.

On its route, it will conduct exercises and operations with air, sea and land forces from a dozen allies.

Speaking onboard the carrier last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the mission showed the UK’s “leadership on global issues and security and defence” and was a sign of unity with allies, including Nato.

“We all know that the world is more uncertain than it felt a few months or years before – we’re in a new era,” Sir Keir said.

The Carrier Strike Group also includes destroyer HMS Dauntless and frigate HMS Richmond along with warships from Norway and Canada.

The deployment comes as US President Donald Trump pushes for Nato allies to do more to provide their own defence.

The £3 billion carrier’s journey to the Indo-Pacific is also aimed at demonstrating the UK’s commitment to allies in the region nervous about China’s actions in relation to Taiwan and disputed sea lanes.

Around 4,000 UK military personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and RAF will join Operation Highmast, Spain and New Zealand also set to take part along with Norwegian and Canadian personnel.

Sir Keir said global insecurity was why the Government had committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product from April 2027.

“It’s hugely important for the UK to play a leading role, as we are playing on this deployment,” he said.

“It shows our capability, it shows our sense of global leadership on defence and security, but also on trade and the economy – we’re a free trading nation.

“The increased defence spending is the highest sustained increase since the Cold War.

“That’s necessary, necessary for security and our defence as a country, but really important that is measured and felt in good, secure, well paid jobs across the country.”

A contingent of 18 UK F-35B jets joined the carrier in the days after departure from the UK, with that number increasing to 24 during the deployment.

Also joining will be Merlin Mk2 anti-submarine helicopters from RNAS Culdrose and Merlin Mk4 Commando and Wildcat helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton, as well as T-150 Malloy and Puma drones.

A Merlin helicopter from the carrier group landed in Gibraltar on Tuesday using the callsign Rescue01, normally used to denote a medical evacuation.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in Gibraltar declined to comment on military movements.