HMS Prince Of Wales CSG Heads Home From Gibraltar
The HMS Prince of Wales (R09)-led carrier strike group (CSG), having completed NATO Exercise Falcon Strike 25 and Neptune Strike in the Western Mediterranean, paused for a three-day port visit to Gibraltar.
During its time in Gibraltar, HMS Prince of Wales had six F-35s visible on deck; some of the 24 F-35s on board for the recent carrier strike exercises have already returned to their home base at RAF Marham in Eastern England, but others were probably below decks in the carrier's hangar. Also present were Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond (F239), and the fleet resupply ship RFA Tideforce (A139). The ships of the CSG, captured by veteran open source monitors @med_shipSpotter and @key2med, look in remarkably good condition after nearly nine months at sea, albeit the ships can be expected to have some well-earned maintenance once they get home.
A very full Gibraltar, with the UK Carrier Strike Group having joined RFA Lyme Bay alongside.
— UK Forces Tracker (@UKForcesTracker) November 24, 2025
Great images sent through by @med_shipSpotter, highly recommend a follow.
(Credit: med_shipSpotter) pic.twitter.com/7D6E0sBGOg
RFA Tideforce (A139) left Gibraltar on November 25, with the remainder of the CSG leaving the next day.
RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) remains alongside in Gibraltar; Lyme Bay completed a two-month maintenance period at the A&P Tyne shipyard on the River Tyne at the end of August, and is believed will be laid up in Gibraltar for budgetary reasons until April next year.
The Norwegian Nansen Class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), present alongside HMS Prince of Wales throughout the Indo-Pacific deployment, was not seen in Gibraltar.
Nor has the Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster (F229) been spotted, its current location and destination being something of a mystery. HMS Lancaster was last seen with a backdrop identifiable as Port Sultan Qaboos Muscat on November 2. Lancaster is definitely not sailing in company with RFA Tidespring (A136).
Tidespring was in Cape Town between November 12 and 20, and in recent days has been making a very well-received solo port visit to St Helena in the South Atlantic, with its Merlin anti-submarine warfare helicopters seen operating over St Helena's strategic airfield. St Helena is the second oldest of the United Kingdom's overseas possessions, having first been settled in 1657, but was incorporated into the British Empire alongside Mauritius and the Indian Ocean territories in 1815.