HMS Prince of Wales: Crowds descend on Hot Walls to see Royal Navy carrier leave Portsmouth - pictures

The people of Portsmouth showcased their gratitude for our serving personnel as the Royal Navy flagship left the naval base.

HMS Prince of Wales sailed past The Round Tower in Old Portsmouth this evening (April 24). Proud families gathered to see their loved ones on the huge warship, as the ship’s company gear up for sea trials.

The £3.2bn warship is back at sea after returning from Operation Highmast on November 30, 2025, where she took the helm of the UK Carrier Strike Group for eight months across the globe. Since returning home to Portsmouth, the ship’s company have worked side-by-side with naval base staff and contractors to clean, service, maintain and upgrade thousands of systems for operations. Tonnes of food, spare parts, and supporting equipment, were loaded onto the Queen Elizabeth-class carrier before today’s departure.

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Her current sea trials will see the mighty warship embark a suite of Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, alongside Malloy cargo drones. The ship’s company, numbering at over 900-strong, are readying themselves for the next phase of operations. HMS Prince of Wales will undergo combined training in home waters before taking on ammunition in Scotland.

She will then take on Operation Firecrest, which will see the Royal Navy flagship conduct various tasks in the North Atlantic and High North - leading the UK Carrier Strike Group under Nato’s Arctic Sentry Mission.

This comes at a time of rising threats from Russia on the surface and beneath the water. There has been a 30 per cent rise in Putin’s vessels being spotted in UK waters in the past two years. Here are several pictures of Portsmouth greeting HMS Prince of Wales as she set sail for her latest mission.

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