How about this PhotoEx from NATO High North ASW exercise Dynamic Mongoose 26 off Trondheim, Norway, last week.
Centered around the 65,000-ton carrier HMS Prince of Wales escorted by the Type 45 (Daring) class AAW destroyer HMS Duncan (D 37), the other escorts seen are the Danish Absalon-class frigate HDMS Esbern Snare (F 342), the German frigate FGS Sachsen (F 220), and the Portuguese Bartholomeu Dias-class frigate NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida (F 334).
Submarines include the German U-35 (S 185), the Dutch Walrus-class HNLMS Zeeleeuw (S 803), and the Tridente-class NRP Tridente (S 160).
There is also a bit of an unofficial OPFOR, as NRP Francisco De Almeida and Merlin Mk2s from HMS Prince of Wales have been closely monitoring a Russian ship, Yuri Ivanov, a (Project 18280) intelligence-gathering vessel, which is getting SIGINT close to the exercise zone.
The modified Queen Elizabeth-class carrier HMS Prince of Wales— the largest British warship ever completed, has been busy off the U.S. East Coast for the past month conducting DT-3 (Development Test, phase three– with phases one and two conducted already aboard HMSQE) to spin up the class ready to work the F-35B.
Her embarked airwing was small– just two Merlins and a Wildcat– with the F-35Bs being from Pax River, the home to the F-35 Integrated Test Force, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get a lot of work in.
She conducted some F-35B “Beast Mode” tests with 500-pound Paveway IVs on four stations and four 1,000-pounders in the weapons bay while still having spots available for a pair of AMRAAMs and a pair of Sidewinders
The ability to be a bomb truck is important for the F-35B concept, as detailed by the RN:
Fully loaded, the F-35B can deliver 22,000lb of destructive and defensive power: air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and conventional and laser-guided bombs. If you’re struggling to imagine a 22,000lb payload… it’s the equivalent of the heaviest bomb carried by a WW2 Lancaster bomber (the Grand Slam or ‘earthquake’ bomb). And it’s nearly three times more than the UK’s last carrier-borne strike aircraft, the Harrier GR9, over a decade ago.
In all 60 shipborne rolling vertical landings’ (SVRL) were conducted, including ten by night. Other trials successfully completed include: 20 backwards landings (facing towards the stern), ten at night; nearly 150 take-offs by day and night in various weather conditions/sea states.
U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Maj. Paul Gucwa performs a vertical landing (VL) in an F-35B Lightning II short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) variant strike fighter during a mission to expand the flight envelope for the technique aboard the U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) Oct. 29, 2023. Gucwa also performed the first night shipborne rolling VL (SRVL) during the evening’s flight period. Gucwa is one of three test pilots from embarked with a broader team from the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (PAX ITF) to conduct flight test during the ongoing developmental test phase 3 (DT-3) flight trials. HMS Prince of Wales, the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier and biggest warship, is deployed to the Western Atlantic for WESTLANT 23. 231029-O-PF253-1439
She also hosted fly-ins from USMC MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, CH53 Super Stallions, and Viper gunships as well as supply drone trials, totaling a dozen different aircraft types during the testing.
There was also lots of underway maneuvering at sea, producing some great images, like these doing a RAS from the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8). To starboard of Arctic is the endangered but still beautiful Tico-class cruiser USS Leyte Gulf.
HMSPWS also linked up with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington and France’s brand-new fleet tanker/support ship Jacques Chevallier. (Pictures: LPhot Unaisi Luke, HMS Prince of Wales, and PO Nicholas Russell, USS George Washington)
Of interest, HMSPWS embarked a group of visiting Japanese carrier experts to gain some first-hand knowledge and prepare for their own Izumo-class helicopter carriers being converted for the F-35B.
“The delegation from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force joined HMS Prince of Wales for a fortnight of stealth fighter trials off the USA – helping to pave the way for their own trials in the same waters in 12 months’ time,” says the RN.
The prospect of Japanese F-35s cross-decking from British and American carriers shortly surely would have the ghosts of Yamamoto, Genda, and Kusaka watching with curiosity
Built around the recently completed Queen Elizabeth-class Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), currently serving as a NATO command ship, some 25 ships from 11 nations are assembled in the Arctic for Exercise Cold Response 2022.
“The purpose of the Cold Response exercises is to train a rapid military reinforcement of Norway under challenging climate conditions and in a so-called NATO Article 5 scenario.”
Besides HMSPoW, the Royal Navy has 900 Royal Marines ashore in central Norway and embarked on HMS Albion and RFA Mounts Bay and is escorted by the Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender, Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland, and minehunter HMS Grimsby. Italy’s aging “Harrier carrier” ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) is present as is France’s LPH Dixmude and Holland’s LSD Hr.Ms. Rotterdam, the latter escorted by the frigate Hr.Ms. De Severn Provincien. Danish ships include the frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (F 362) and the survey ship Vædderen from 1. Eskadre. The Germans have sent the Frankenthal-class minehunter FGS Bad Bevensen (M1063) and the corvette Erfurt.
The U.S. is there with the forward-based (Rota-homeported) advanced Flight II Burke USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) while the command ship USS Mount Whitney and the old-school early Burke USS The Sullivans (DDG-66) have been mentioned in passing.
Operating with the force are RAF F-35Bs from 617 Sqn and 207 Sqn and Poseidon MRAs, all from shore, along with Eurofighters, USAF assets, Norwegian and Danish F-16s, and others. There are surely some Royal Norwegian Air Force (Luftforsvaret) P-3C/N Orions from Andøya’s No. 333 squadron making an appearance as well.
What hasn’t been seen is embarked naval fixed-wing assets, despite having two flattops underway.
The 65,000-ton Prince of Wales, sans her planned F-35s. In fact, it looks like her deck is completely bare
Garibaldi is the Amphibious Task Force Commander Landing Force for the exercise but doesn’t seem to have an air group embarked. It would be nice to see the Italian Navy’s AV-8Bs still flexing.
There were some Jump Jets on hand, though as 10 USMC Harrier IIs of VMA-223 arrived at Bodø earlier this month alongside 10 ten F/A-18C/D Hornets from VMFA-312.
A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 223, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, taxis on the runway at Bodø Air Station, Norway, March 3, 2022. Exercise Cold Response ’22 is a biennial Norwegian national readiness and defense exercise that takes place across Norway, with participation from each of its military services, as well as from 26 additional North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allied nations and regional partners. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Henke)
Other Marine aircraft in Norway for CR 22 are KC-130J Hercules, MV-22B Ospreys of VMA-261, AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venoms of HMLA-269; plus CH-53E Super Stallions from HMH-366.
Throughout the month, in total, about 50 naval vessels are participating in the exercise, which brings together 30,000 soldiers and support personnel from 27 countries – on land, at sea, and in the air.
The last Royal Navy carrier launch by a fixed-wing British-owned military aircraft was 24 November 2010 when four GR9 Harriers took off from the Invincible-class light carrier HMS Ark Royal, then operating in the North Sea, to land at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland.
It was expected to a decade from then to the time that British-flown F-35B Lightnings would fly from the then-unbuilt HMS Queen Elizabeth(R08).
On Tuesday, elements of the RAF’s 617 “Dambusters” Squadron, based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, jumped from the new British carrier.
They do look funny accelerating to the ski jump rather than being launched via catapult. Note the nozzle orientation.
“The UK will declare Initial Operating Capability for HMSQE’s Carrier Strike by the end of 2020. The first operational deployment for HMS Queen Elizabeth, 617 Squadron, and a squadron of US Marine Corps Lightning jets is due to take place in 2021.”
It will be the first time since 1941 that a British warship with the name has been at sea. Although the Royal Navy has previously used the moniker no less than six times going back to 1765, the last HMS Prince of Wales (53) was a King George V-class battleship that famously duked it out with SMS Bismarck, although still incomplete, only to be sunk by land-based Japanese bombers immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The well-worn battleship HMS Prince of Wales mooring in “peacetime” British Singapore, 4 December 1941. Only seven months earlier she had been under the guns of the Bismarck and six days after this photo was taken she was on the seabed (Photo: IWM)
Here we see the view from the bridge of the Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland (F81) as she trails HMS Queen Elizabeth off Rosyth at a stately 16 knots.
Here is a wider shot.
HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) under escort by frigates HMS Iron Duke (F234) & HMS Sutherland (F81)
And below is night time footage of the big carrier as she passes under the Forth rail bridge on her maiden voyage. At one point she reportedly only had about 40cm of room on each side during her exit from the builder’s ways.
HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are the biggest warships ever built for the Royal Navy – four acres of sovereign territory, deployable across the globe to serve the United Kingdom on operations for 50 years. They will be the most advanced warships in the Royal Navy fleet.
As noted by Defense Industry Daily: “Queen Elizabeth has began sea trials after leaving BAE’s shipyard in Scotland on Monday. During the next six weeks her crew will test the vessel’s speed, maneuverability, power and propulsion, and weaponry before returning to its shipyard Rosyth for further testing and maintenance and then return to sea to test mission systems. She will later transfer to Portsmouth Naval Base to be handed over to the Royal Navy later this year.”
Her first F-35Bs, however, may not be ready until 2018 and she is not expected to be deployable with an all-Fleet Air Arm wing of them until 2023, using loaned USMC squadrons until then.
