Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has assumed the title of Royal Navy flagship during a visit to Liverpool, where the ship will open to the public.
The 65,000 tons warship, pennant number R09, is the second of the Royal Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. Commissioned in 2019, this will be the first time since its previous visit to Liverpool in February 2020 that the ship will host public tours.
Liverpool is one of two British cities to be officially affiliated with HMS Prince of Wales, along with Bristol. The Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, just across the River Mersey, was the site where the previous HMS Prince of Wales, a King George V class battleship, was constructed. Sections of both Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers were also built at Cammell Laird before being shipped to Rosyth in Scotland for final assembly.
HMS Prince of Wales arrived in Liverpool on Sunday Dec. 1, 2024, a day earlier than planned due to forecasted weather conditions, and assumed the title of fleet flagship on the morning of Dec. 2 from sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08). HMS Queen Elizabeth had held the role since January 2021 after taking over from HMS Albion, whose imminent retirement has recently been announced. Though largely a ceremonial title, it does hold a significant element of prestige and is considered a great honor for the bestowed ship and its crew.
🎵 Roll up for the Magical Mersey Tour… 🎵
One day earlier than planned due to inclement weather forecast, @HMSPWLS has arrived in #Liverpool for a high-profile 8-day visit including receiving the Freedom of the City.
🔗 https://t.co/3UWDOPatvN pic.twitter.com/IZilWZFIGb
— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) December 1, 2024
To honor the ship’s link to Liverpool, proud home city of The Beatles, one of the main thoroughfares on board the ship will be named ‘Penny Lane’ after their well-known song during a ceremony on Dec. 3. The ship’s company will then march through the city’s streets on Dec. 6, exercising the ship’s newly awarded Freedom of the City rights. Public tours will commence on Dec. 7 and continue the following day, with up to 10,000 visitors expected. Tickets for the experience sold out within hours of going live.
HMS Prince of Wales has had a busy 2024, notably replacing HMS Queen Elizabeth for Exercise Steadfast Defender after the latter suffered a propeller shaft fault that forced a trip to Rosyth for repairs. The second half of the year saw Prince of Wales act as the focal point for Exercise Strike Warrior, operating F-35B Lightning IIs as allied naval and air forces formed a defensive ring.
In 2025, HMS Prince of Wales is scheduled to lead the CSG 2025 deployment, taking the ship and a strike group to the Pacific and back in a similar fashion to HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deployment in 2021.
The Queen Elizabeth class design
The twin Royal Navy aircraft carriers were officially ordered in 2008, but their origins date to the 1998 Strategic Defense Review, which called for the replacement of the service’s three Invincible class aircraft carriers with two much larger vessels.
Though famed for decorated service in several major conflicts, the Invincible class were flawed carriers built following the cancellation of the much larger CVA-01 program. The three carriers, Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal, were around 22,000 tons and 209 meters in length, around a third of the tonnage and 75 meters shorter than the Queen Elizabeth class. They were designed primarily for supporting anti-submarine warfare operations in the North Atlantic, and for some time following CVA-01’s cancellation were officially referred to as ‘through-deck cruisers’ to avoid the somewhat tainted aircraft carrier label. Air defense requirements would see the ships carry a maritime development of the Harrier in addition to ASW helicopters, and were thereafter fitted with the famous ‘ski jump’ ramps at the bow.
Operational requirements of the Falklands War in 1982 meant the then brand new HMS Invincible, as well as the aging HMS Hermes, would also need to be available to fixed wing aircraft for ground attack, leading to the rapid training of Royal Air Force Harrier GR3 pilots on naval flying and makeshift adaptations to the aircraft (including holes drilled in the airframe to allow water to drain out). This mixed Harrier GR3 and Sea Harrier fleet worked, and the joint Royal Air Force-Fleet Air Arm arrangement still forms the basis of the UK’s current Lightning Force.
A major issue faced by crews deployed on the ships throughout their life was their small size, which made maneuvering and arranging aircraft on the flight deck much more difficult than they would be on a conventional aircraft carrier. This had an impact on sortie generation rates, and was one of the most important pieces of feedback to feed into the specifications of the Queen Elizabeth class.
Various proposals ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 tons designs to colossal 73,000 tons behemoths were refined to the winning design of 65,000 tons, hosting a maximum fixed wing air wing of 36 aircraft and generating an average of 110 sorties per day.
A short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) configuration for the carriers was chosen upon the selection of the F-35B Lightning II. Conversion to catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR), and a switch to the F-35C, was ordered by the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review, but later reversed in 2012 due to spiraling costs.
While STOVL capable aircraft are in theory less capable than their CATOBAR equivalents, the training and operational costs of STOVL are much lower, and with the F-35B joining the air arms of the United States, Italy, Japan, and Singapore there is significant opportunity for joint operations.
HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed for the first time in 2017, with HMS Prince of Wales following in 2019. Both ships are equipped with three Phalanx CIWS mounts, and operate a modular air wing of F-35B Lightning IIs, plus Merlin, Wildcat, Chinook, and Apache helicopters. The aircraft lifts and hangar are large enough to accommodate a Chinook helicopter without removing any of the rotor blades.
Under new plans, titled Project Ark Royal, the Queen Elizabeth class ships may in the future receive CATOBAR equipment to allow the operation of new unmanned platforms in development. Depending on the final configuration, this may also allow for a degree of interoperability with crewed CATOBAR aircraft like the F/A-18, F-35C and Rafale.
Some testing of smaller short take-off and landing unmanned aircraft has already taken place using HMS Prince of Wales. In late 2023 the ship was used to trial a W Autonomous Systems logistics UAV that flew to the ship from Predannack airfield, a testing ground for 700X Naval Air Squadron and satellite airfield of RNAS Culdrose. Later sailing across the Atlantic, Prince of Wales then hosted the General Atomics Mojave for a series of trials off the American east coast.
#MojaveUAS made its historic takeoff and landing on the HMS Prince of Wales look easy.
Learn why GA-ASI engineers and executives were confident in this demonstration’s success: https://t.co/eCoBmE73WK pic.twitter.com/DKI2Losev0
— GA-ASI (@GenAtomics_ASI) January 5, 2024
While they are a very visible and frequent target of attack from commentators who question the role of aircraft carriers in modern warfare, the Royal Navy has hedged its bets on the Queen Elizabeth class and it is unlikely they will face any problems from the forthcoming Strategic Defense Review in 2025.
