Commodore responds to USA chief HMS Prince of Wales "don't want you there" snub despite "phenomenal" op
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The Commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group responded to calls from an influential figure in the American government for the Royal Navy flagship not to operate in the Pacific.
Commodore James Blackmore headed up an international taskforce which trained alongside the US military in the region. Operation Highmast saw HMS Prince of Wales and her escort ships deploy to the Indo-Pacific on an eight month operation, ending yesterday (November 30) after the UKCSG returned to Portsmouth.
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As reported by Politico earlier this year, the Pentagon’s top policy chief Elbridge Colby blindsided officials by saying that HMS Prince of Wales should not have been operating in the Far East. This was despite British and American personnel working alongside each other on various drills, including Exercise Talisman Sabre which saw HMS Prince of Wales train with USS George Washington off the coast of Australia.
The pair have a strong three-way alliance with Australia known as AUKUS, where the nations agreed a defence trade and submarine deal alongside other projects. A source familiar with the Donald Trump administration told Politico that Mr Colby challenged international officials.
“He basically asked them, ‘Is it too late to call it back?’ Because we don’t want you there.” The source added: “He was basically saying, ‘You have no business being in the Indo-Pacific.’”
Cdre Blackmore brushed aside the comments and believes the constant work between the Royal Navy and US Navy speaks for itself. “We’ve always worked so closely with the United States,” he told The News. “I’ve been a product of their system and trained with them for three years.
“We seamlessly work together, which is part of that special relationship we have with America, but also with many other nations as well. It has been great to work alongside one of our closest allies.”
Operation Highmast saw the UKCSG traverse more than 40,000 nautical miles conducting extensive military drills in Australia, Japan, India, and elsewhere. It expanded massively on previous deployments.
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse, who took part in a previous carrier deployment in 2021, said: “The joy of it is seeing it evolve. It was a more challenging deployment. Large-scale exercises are where you can test yourself. We train as we fight, so the scale and complexity of Talisman Sabre was a real test for them.
“Carrier deployments are really complex and you need to keep testing it to reassure ourselves that we can get it out at short notice, as we live in an uncertain world.”