Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales joins forces with Italy carrier ITS Cavour on last exercise before homecoming
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The Royal Navy flagship operated alongside the Italian aircraft carrier on the last exercise before returning home to Portsmouth.
HMS Prince of Wales, at the helm of the UK Carrier Strike Group (UKCSG), joined forces with ITS Cavour and her carrier group. A series of maritime drills were conducted during Exercise Neptune Strike, a Nato organised mission.
This comes after the Royal Navy determined that the £3.2bn warship reached Full Operational Capability, where she can utilise all of her assets at their highest capacity. During the exercise, HMS Prince of Wales was carrying the largest fifth-generation Carrier Air Wing assembled, bristling with F-35B fighter jets and other aircraft.
Personnel from the NATO Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force (NISRF) were pushed to their limits to monitor all exercise movements. Neptune Strike brought together aircraft carrier strike groups, amphibious forces, and air assets to carry out a range of tests.
Nato said the operation reinforced the alliance’s deterrence and defence posture. NISRF personnel were tasked with rapidly adapting to emerging targets during the drills. A remotely piloted drone known as RQ-4D Phoenix was deployed so personnel could monitor the movements from every warship and aircraft.
Brigadier General John B. Creel, Commander of the NATO ISR Force, said: “Neptune Strike once again demonstrated how essential strategic ISR is to NATO’s multi-domain readiness. Our team delivered exceptional performance throughout the exercise - their professionalism, precision, and dedication were key to enabling commanders to operate effectively in a highly dynamic environment.
“By integrating the RQ-4D Phoenix into one of NATO’s most demanding maritime exercises, we reinforced the Alliance’s ability to act decisively and cohesively when it matters most.”
Nato said the exercise trains warships in maintaining the freedom of navigation, securing maritime chokepoints, and protecting undersea infrastructure.
HMS Prince of Wales is closing in on finishing Operation Highmast, an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific. Large crowds watched her departure from Portsmouth on April 22. The deployment as a whole covers 26,000 nautical miles, and saw sailors complete drills in Australia, Japan, India, South Korea and elsewhere.
Various diplomatic visits were carried out with major defence agreements signed in some cases. Over the course of the operation, upwards of 4,500 British military personnel have been involved, including nearly 600 RAF personnel and 900 soldiers accompanying 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines.