UK Carrier Strike Group 25 deployment to Indo-Pacific region gets under way

HMS Prince of Wales departs Portsmouth on 22 April to lead the UK's eight-month Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. (Crown Copyright/UK Royal Navy)

The UK's much-anticipated Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) deployment to the Indo-Pacific region has officially begun, following the departure of the Royal Navy's (RN's) Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier and flagship HMS Prince of Wales from Portsmouth.

Prince of Wales set sail from Portsmouth on 22 April to lead the eight-month mission, dubbed Operation ‘Highmast', which will take the CSG to the Western Pacific Rim via the Mediterranean and Middle East with a series of large-scale exercises with UK's allies and partners.

The aim of the deployment is to reaffirm the UK's commitment to the security of the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific regions, demonstrate collective resolve with allies, showcase British trade and industry, and declare the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers with all their constituent parts fully operational.

While the CSG will change composition with different naval assets swapping in and out throughout the mission, upon leaving UK waters, the task group accompanying Prince of Wales includes the RN Type 45 Daring-class destroyer HMS Dauntless, Type 23 Duke-class anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigate HMS Richmond, and Tide-class tanker Tidespring. In addition, Janes understands that an Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine will also be attached to the group.

International naval assets include the Royal Norwegian Navy's tanker HNoMS Maud and Fridtjof Nansen-class ASW frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen – both of which will support the CSG for the entire mission – and the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN's) Halifax-class multirole frigate HMCS Ville de Québec