UK Carrier Strike Group Prepares to Get Under Way for Suez
After a 105-day deployment East of Suez, the French carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91), accompanied by Horizon Class Air Defense Frigate FS Forbin (D620), FREMM Class frigates Provence (D652) and Alsace (D656) and Fleet Tanker Jacques Chevallier (A725), passed northwards through the Suez Canal on April 7. The Clemencau 25 Carrier Strike Group (CSG) now appears to be heading home to Toulon, and it probably includes a nuclear attack submarine, which has not been identified.
As the French return home, UK CSG 25 is preparing to set sail from Portsmouth for an eight-month round trip to the Yokosuka naval base in Japan, involving an outward and inward transit of the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The CSG 25 flagship HMS Prince of Wales (R09) has completed Exercise Tamber Shield in the North Sea, a 20-day work-up in preparation for the deployment, and has loaded up from an ammunition depot in Scotland. A detailed timetable has not been issued for the deployment, but the CSG is scheduled to depart on April 22.
Based on a similar deployment to the Pacific by its sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) in 2021, the Prince of Wales CSG is likely to transit the Red Sea in May and to return in November. It is unclear whether this plan has been coordinated with the United States, for whom simultaneously maintaining two aircraft carriers in the CENTCOM area places a strain on resources.
The United Kingdom has previously participated in strikes on Houthi positions inside Yemen, rather than restricting activities to the defense of merchant shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Hence a precedent has been set politically for the UK CSG to supplement the current campaign against the Houthis, should this be desired, and to linger in the Red Sea. However, this would then impact planned engagements in the Indo-Pacific area, including with the navies of Australia, Japan and the United States.
On board HMS Prince of Wales will be two F-35B squadrons, 809 Naval Air Squadron and 617 “The Dambusters” Squadron RAF, Wildcat attack helicopters from 815 Naval Air Squadron, Merlin helicopters from 820 Naval Air Squadron and a number of Chinooks, as well as Royal Marines unit. It is unclear as yet if a US Marine Corps F-35B squadron will also be embarked, as it was during the similar 2021 deployment, but there will be no US Navy escorts for the CSG.
Other ships in the UK CSG will include Daring Class destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), Royal Norwegian Navy Nansen Class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), Type 23 anti-submarine frigate HMS Richmond (F239), an Astute Class nuclear attack submarine and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels. Canadian and Spanish ships will also join the CSG for parts of the deployment.