Queen pays tribute as the ‘very best of Global Britain’ returns
THE QUEEN has welcomed home the Royal Navy flagship as it returns from the biggest deployment since the Second World War.
Marking the end of the seven-month mission to the Pacific and back, the Queen has remarked on the Royal Navy’s “important work... undertaken to build relationships” in an open letter to all British and American service personnel involved.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s newest operational aircraft carrier, plus ships from the US and Netherlands, formed the core of the Carrier Strike Group deployment, which has visited over 30 countries since leaving Portsmouth in May.
The letter from the Queen said: “On the return of HMS Queen Elizabeth to her base port of Portsmouth, I send my best wishes to the 1,200 Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Force, and
United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel onboard the ship.
“I was pleased to hear of the important work you have undertaken to build relationships between the United Kingdom and more than 20 nations during your seven-month-long deployment.
“I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the wider Carrier Strike Group and hope you all have a most enjoyable and restful Christmas with your families.”
HMS Queen Elizabeth’s crew were welcomed back to their home base of Portsmouth yesterday afternoon after sailing 49,000 nautical miles to the Indo-pacific and back.
The 65,000-ton aircraft carrier was joined by air-defence destroyers HMS Defender and HMS Diamond, as HMS Richmond, an anti-submarine warfare frigate, arrived in Plymouth.
The Type-23 frigate HMS Kent will return to Portsmouth tomorrow.
The Royal Navy’s frigates and vessels from the US and Netherlands navies departed in recent days. On Wednesday, the helicopters and F-35 jets of 820 Naval Air Squadron and 617 Squadron departed the aircraft carrier for the final time, returning to their respective units of RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, and RAF Marham, in Norfolk.
The service personnel from nine ships, a submarine, five air squadrons and a company of Royal Marines will arrive home in time for Christmas.
Families and friends gathered in Portsmouth to meet their loved ones.
For 25 crew members, it was the first time they had met their babies, who were born while they were away.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: “Today we pay tribute to the 3,700 personnel in the Carrier Strike Group that have been our global ambassadors on this historic and ground-breaking deployment.
“The personnel and their families have made considerable sacrifices to make this deployment the success it has been. We thank them for all their efforts in strengthening our relationships with our allies and partners around the world.”
Over the course of the deployment, the carrier’s F-35 jets and helicopters clocked up 4,723 flying hours.
The Air Wing consisted of British F-35 jets from 617 (The Dambusters)
Squadron based at RAF Marham, Wildcat helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton and Merlin helicopters from RNAS Culdrose.
There were also 10 US Marine Corps F-35 embarked on the carrier.
Adml Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff, said: “Throughout the past seven months, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Strike Group have been furthering the UK’S interests and strengthening our partnerships around the globe.
“With involvement from across the Armed Forces, and our allies integrated throughout, this deployment has been a truly joint, truly international endeavour, which represents the very best of Global Britain.”
The Carrier Strike Group sailed across three oceans and five seas, cumulatively covering around 500,000 nautical miles.
In June, a diplomatic row flared up between London and Moscow when HMS Defender transited within 12 miles of the Crimean shoreline.
Russia, riled by the presence of Nato navies in the Black Sea, said it had been a “provocation” for the British warship to sail in what it sees as its territorial waters.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 in a move that has not been recognised internationally.
In September, China accused Britain of “evil intentions” after HMS Richmond sailed through the Taiwan Strait, in what the MOD said was a “freedom of navigation” operation.
The 110-mile-wide strategic passageway between China and Taiwan is considered internationally as high seas and not subject to sovereign claims or jurisdiction. However, Beijing, which claims the island of 24 million as its own territory, regularly condemns US warships for making “provocative” transits.
Speaking at the time, Sir Tony said the Taiwan Strait was clearly “part of the free and open Indo-pacific”, adding that “it is a waterway that can be used by different nations”.
One F-35 jet was lost in the Mediterranean Sea after a catastrophic fault developed on take off from HMS Queen Elizabeth. The pilot safely ejected.
The wreckage was recovered this week, broken in “significant large parts”, the MOD said, after an operation involving the US and Italian navies, and commercial salvage vessels.
‘I was pleased to hear of the important work you have undertaken between the UK and more than 20 nations’