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Royal Navy - Aircraft Carrier R 09 HMS Prince of Wales |
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| 11/24 | ||
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Type,
class: Aircraft Carrier; Queen Elizabeth class Builder: various (block building, see info below) STATUS: Awarded: May 20, 2008 Laid down: May 26, 2011 Christened: September 8, 2017 Launched: December 21, 2017 Commissioned: December 10, 2019 IN SERVICE Homeport: HMNB Portsmouth, Hampshire Namesake: Prince of Wales Ships Motto: ICH DIEN (I serve) Technical Data: see: INFO > Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft Carrier |
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                                         christening ceremony at Rosyth Dockyard - September 8, 2017   |
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HMS Prince of Wales (R 09): HMS Prince of Wales (R09) is the second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier. Unlike most large aircraft carriers, Prince of Wales is not fitted with catapults and arrestor wires, and is instead designed to operate V/STOL aircraft; the ship is currently planned to carry up to 40 F-35B Lightning II stealth multirole fighters and Merlin helicopters for airborne early warning and anti-submarine warfare, although in surge conditions the class is capable of supporting 70+ F-35B. The design emphasises flexibility, with accommodation for 250 Royal Marines and the ability to support them with attack helicopters and troop transports up to and larger than Chinook size. The ship was initially planned to be either sold or mothballed due to budget cuts, but the government later decided to bring it into active service. Prince of Wales was formally named in September 2017. Her first seagoing commanding officer was Captain Stephen Moorhouse. As of July 2019, her ship captain is Captain Darren Houston. The completed Prince of Wales began sea trials in September 2019 and first arrived at her new home base of HMNB Portsmouth in November 2019. The ship was formally commissioned into the Royal Navy at a ceremony in Portsmouth on 10 December 2019. The ship's commissioning date marked the 78th anniversary of the sinking of her predecessor which was lost in action along with HMS Repulse in 1941. She is the eighth Royal Navy ship to have the name HMS Prince of Wales. Construction of the ship began in 2011 at Rosyth Dockyard and ended with launch on 21 December 2017. She was handed over to the Royal Navy in 2019, and will be fully ready for front-line duties around the globe from 2023. When on operations, Prince of Wales will form a central part of a UK Carrier Strike Group, comprising escorts and support ships, with the aim to facilitate carrier-enabled power projection. Much like her sister ship Queen Elizabeth, the original 2008 design of Prince of Wales envisaged flying F-35B Lightning II Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) jets from a ski-jump ramp. However, in May 2010, the government published its long-awaited Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), which stated that Prince of Wales would be converted to a Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration, operating the F-35C. An 18-month study commenced into the conversion but ultimately found that it would cause severe cost implications and delays. In May 2012, the government announced it would be reversing its decision to convert Prince of Wales and that the ship would be built to its original STOVL design. The SDSR also stipulated that the UK only required one aircraft carrier, however penalty clauses in the contract meant that cancelling Prince of Wales would be more expensive than building her. Instead, the government planned to construct Prince of Wales and then either place her into extended readiness or have her sold to an ally. Contrary to this, in 2012, the Royal Navy published its annual yearbook, titled A Global Force 2012/13, which stated that both carriers are "likely to be commissioned and may even be capable of operating together". Prince of Wales was assembled at Rosyth from 52 blocks built by six shipyards around the UK. Construction began on 26 May 2011 with the first steel being cut at Govan shipyard by Defence Secretary Liam Fox. In September 2014, Prince of Wales reached a final assembly phase when hull blocks LB02 and LB03 were floated into 1 Dock of Rosyth dockyard, Scotland. During the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Prince of Wales would be brought into active service, rather than sold off or mothballed. This was later confirmed in the government's 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. In April 2016, the ship was said to be around 80% structurally complete. On 1 September 2017 HMS Prince of Wales' most senior officer, Captain Ian Groom, confirmed that the carrier was now essential to fulfilling the Royal Navy's 'full carrier strike capability. Prince of Wales was formally named on 8 September 2017 at Rosyth dockyard by The Duchess of Rothesay, the wife of the current Prince of Wales. On 21 December 2017, Prince Of Wales was floated out of Rosyth drydock #1 for the first time and manoeuvred to a nearby jetty for fitting-out and further systems integration. A Merlin Mk2 helicopter landed and took off six times on her flight deck on 23 September 2019. Under current plans, Prince of Wales will start sea trials in 2019 and be commissioned in late 2019. The ship left the fitting out basin at Rosyth for the first time on 20 September 2019; initially she remained anchored in the Firth of Forth, undertaking initial engine and system tests, and waiting for the tide to allow her to pass under the bridges crossing the firth. HMS Prince of Wales sailed under the Firth of Forth bridges on 22 September 2019 and began sea trials. On 16 November 2019, Prince of Wales arrived at her home base of Portsmouth for the first time, berthing at Princess Royal Jetty. On 28 February 2020, Prince of Wales arrived in her affiliated city of Liverpool for the first time on a week-long visit. In May 2020, Prince of Wales experienced flooding which the Royal Navy described as "minor". This was followed by more significant flooding in October 2020 which caused damage to her electrical cabling. She is currently confined to docks where she is expected to remain for at least six months whilst repairs are made. Her long-planned deployment to the United States to undertake her first F-35B trials has been cancelled. During 2020 Prince of Wales had been at sea just 30 days, compared to 115 days for Queen Elizabeth. After being declared fully operational in October 2021, Prince of Wales participated in an international exercise off the coast of Scotland. This involved joint operations with her sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth. On 1 January 2022, Prince of Wales took over the role of command ship for NATO's maritime high readiness force from the French Navy. The ship will spend the next twelve months supporting NATO exercises in the Arctic, Baltic and Mediterranean. Her first exercise in this role was Cold Response 22, a Norwegian-led exercise which is designed to test her crew in this role. Later in the year, she passed over the role to Turkey. On 27 August 2022, Prince of Wales departed HMNB Portsmouth to undertake training exercises with the US Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and United States Marine Corps, and to host the Atlantic Future Forum trade and economic conference in New York. On 29 August, after suffering mechanical problems in the UK's South Coast Exercise area the ship proceeded to anchor off the Isle of Wight. It was reported that an external coupling that connects the outer propeller shaft to the drive shaft from the propulsion motors had failed. Rear Admiral Steve Moorhouse, Director of Force Generation, confirmed "significant damage to the shaft and the propeller and some superficial damage to the rudder. There is no damage to the rest of the ship". She arrived in Rosyth for repairs on 12 October 2022. source: wikipedia |
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Prince of Wales (Welsh: Tywysog Cymru) was a title granted to princes born in Wales from the 12th century onwards; the term replaced the use of the word king. One of the last Welsh princes, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, was killed in battle in 1282 by Edward I, king of England, whose son Edward, born in Caernarfon Castle, was invested as Prince of Wales: the first English person to claim the title. Since the 13th century, the title is granted to the heir apparent to the English or British monarch, but the failure to be granted the title does not affect the rights to royal succession. The title is granted to the royal heir apparent as a personal honour or dignity, and the title is not heritable, merging with the Crown on accession to the throne. The title Earl of Chester is always given in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales usually has other titles and honours. The current Prince of Wales is Prince Charles, the eldest son of Elizabeth II, who is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other independent Commonwealth realms as well as Head of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations. The wife of the Prince of Wales is entitled to the title Princess of Wales. Prince Charles' first wife, Diana, used that title but his second wife, Camilla, uses only the title Duchess of Cornwall because the other title has become so popularly associated with Diana. |
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