{"id":2560,"date":"2025-04-21T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=2560"},"modified":"2025-04-23T08:55:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T08:55:35","slug":"navy-warns-enemies-that-we-mean-business-with-3000000000-warship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/21\/navy-warns-enemies-that-we-mean-business-with-3000000000-warship\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy warns enemies that \u2018we mean business\u2019 with \u00a33,000,000,000 warship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Royal\t<\/div>
HMS Prince of Wales is the flagship of the Royal Navy (Picture: Andrew Milligan\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Royal Navy is sending its flagship halfway around the world to demonstrate to the UK\u2019s foes and allies that \u2018we mean business\u2019.<\/p>\n

HMS Prince of Wales<\/a> is leading the international Carrier Strike Group (CSG) on its way to the Indo-Pacific region after leaving the harbour at Portsmouth earlier today.<\/p>\n

Crowds lined the walls of the harbour to wave it off, as meets up with warships from Norway<\/a> and Canada<\/a> on an eight-month deployment titled Operation Highmast.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the group will participate in exercises, operations and visits with 40 countries from the Mediterranean to Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Commodore James Blackmore, the commander of the CSG, said the 65,000-tonne flagship will send a \u2018powerful message\u2019 when it appears over the ocean horizon on its travels.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018It\u2019s about supporting key trade routes that exist from the Indo-Pacific region to the UK, and supporting partners and allies in the region, showing that we are there as a capable and credible force should it be required.<\/p>\n

\u2018That in a time of crisis, we can come together and fight together and show that we have a capability that we mean business with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top Navy figure added: \u2018Working closely with partners from across the globe, Operation Highmast will demonstrate credible deterrence and our support to Nato and the rules-based international order.<\/p>\n

\u2018This will reaffirm that the UK is secure at home and strong abroad and reinforce the UK\u2019s commitment to the Indo-Pacific.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"EMBARGOED\t<\/div>
Captain Will Blackett RN, Commodore James Blackmore RN, and Air Group Commander Captain Colin McGannity RN aboard HMS Prince of Wales (Picture: Ben Birchall\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the formidable fleet will be tanker HNoMS Maud and frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen, both from Norway. <\/p>\n

Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec, British frigate HMS Richmond and RFA Tidespring from the UK\u2019s Royal Fleet Auxiliary will also join.<\/p>\n

On top of that, a contingent of 18 F-35B jets from the UK will be added in the days after deployment, with six more joining later.<\/p>\n

There will also 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.<\/p>\n

In total, there will be 2,500 military personnel \u2013 about 2,100 British and 400 from Norway, Canada and Spain \u2013 making up the mammoth deployment.<\/p>\n

Captain Will Blackett, commanding officer of HMS Prince of Wales, said his crew had been training \u2018very, very hard for over a year now\u2019, but they were now \u2018good to go\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"EMBARGOED\t<\/div>
Captain Will Blackett said the ship\u2019s departure was \u2018momentous\u2019 (Picture: Ben Birchall\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He added: \u2018I grew up in Portsmouth, I went to school about a mile away, and I sat on the Round Tower as a 10-year-old saying \u2018One day, I\u2019d like to be the captain of a warship\u2019, and I was in the crowd watching an aircraft carrier leave.<\/p>\n

\u2018Somehow, I\u2019m about to be the captain of an aircraft carrier, leaving in front of 10-year-olds sitting at the Round Tower, and for me, it\u2019s a momentous moment.\u2019<\/p>\n

First up on the CSG agenda is a Nato exercise off the coast of France to test aerial defences before the ships move to the Mediterranean to work with the Italians.<\/p>\n

Captain Blackett said: \u2018This ship is a fantastic machine, she\u2019s got amazing equipment \u2013 state of the art \u2013 and we\u2019re very proud to take her around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018But it only works because of the magic that\u2019s brought to it by the people on board.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HMS Prince of Wales is the flagship of the Royal Navy (Picture: Andrew Milligan\/PA Wire) The Royal Navy is sending its flagship halfway around the world to demonstrate to the UK\u2019s foes and allies that \u2018we mean business\u2019. HMS Prince of Wales is leading the international Carrier Strike Group (CSG) on its way to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2566,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2560\/revisions\/2566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}