After a mammoth voyage travelling as far as Australia and Japan, HMS Prince of Wales and its carrier strike group have safely returned home to the UK.
Their arrival home after seven months completes the Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG 25) deployment, which was codenamed Operation Highmast. Across the 223 days since HMS Prince of Wales’ departure from Portsmouth on Apr. 22, 2025, the CSG has worked with over 30 different nations and sailed over 40,000 nautical miles.
Sailing into HMNB Portsmouth on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025, the homecoming event was watched from ashore by thousands of family members, friends, and excited spectators. Three helicopters, two Merlins and one Wildcat, marked the carrier’s arrival with a formation flypast, while the port’s tug fleet saluted the ship with their water cannons. The ship’s company lined the deck of the aircraft carrier in a Royal Navy tradition known as Procedure Alpha – often carried out at the end of major deployments. A ceremonial cannon salute was fired from the rear of the ship.
The carrier’s air wing had already departed for their home bases during the previous week – the last to leave being seven Merlin HM2s which returned to RNAS Culdrose and Wildcat helicopters which landed back at RNAS Yeovilton on Saturday, Nov. 29. F-35Bs returned home to RAF Marham in the preceding week. Both frontline F-35B units – 617 Squadron RAF, and 809 Naval Air Squadron, participated in the deployment, while some additional crew from the 207 Squadron operational conversion unit (OCU) helped to boost capacity.
Alongside the carrier, Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Dauntless also arrived into Portsmouth. As the group sailed into the English Channel, passing Cornwall, a Wildcat helicopter brought the entire crew of the destroyer a shipment of fresh Cornish pasties from ashore as an extra morale boost prior to their homecoming the following morning.
Morale is already high onboard in anticipation for homecoming but Ann’s has made our day. They arranged Cornish Pasty’s for the entire Ships Comp. @COMUKCSG @NATO #CSG25 pic.twitter.com/Nd1f4XTvUf
— HMS Dauntless (@HMSDauntless) November 29, 2025
@HMSDauntless returns home 💙 pic.twitter.com/nDwcz8aAFa
— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) November 30, 2025
Norwegian frigate HMoMS Roald Amundsen, which has been attached to the CSG since departure, is due to arrive a few hours after HMS Prince of Wales, and then will likely have its own homecoming ceremony upon returning to Norway in the coming days. A Royal Navy contingent was embarked on the Norwegian ship along with a Wildcat HMA2 helicopter.
Further down the coast in Plymouth, Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond returned to its own homeport of HMNB Devonport.
WELCOME HOME HMS RICHMOND @HMS_Richmond arrived inside the breakwater just before 10am this morning, and is now at anchor.
The frigate left Plymouth in the Spring for Operation Highmast, to protect with other warships the UK flagship @HMSPWLS on deployment in the far east,… pic.twitter.com/zhZiWuwiXE
— Kevin Kelway, BCAc (@Rockhoppas) November 30, 2025
Commodore James Blackmore, Commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, said “It has been a privilege to lead the nearly 4,000 soldiers, sailors, aviators, and marines who have sailed over 40,000 nautical miles as part of the Strike Group, working with over 30 nations en route.”
“Last week the Defence Secretary announced that the UK Carrier Strike Group had reached full operating capability. That is a testament to the hard work both on Operation Highmast and of those who have served before us to reach this milestone. The Strike Group has come home stronger for NATO than it departed and I am incredibly proud of all those who have taken part in Operation Highmast.”
Nearly home! 🇬🇧
After an eight month deployment, today the Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, returns to the UK.
This was their journey. All 40,000 nautical miles of it. pic.twitter.com/apMCEUVBI0
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 30, 2025
28 VVIP guests were hosted by the CSG through the deployment, and as many as 82 British companies were able to use the deployment to showcase its products or services to potential customers. This side of the deployment is thought to have generated export interests up to the value of £17 billion.
Operation Highmast
Operation Highmast was the second Royal Navy deployment to the Indo-Pacific led by a Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier. It saw a number of firsts – the most notable, and most recent, being the first ever deployment of 24 British F-35Bs on board a carrier, completing a major milestone for declaration of full operating capability (FOC). Additionally, the carrier group made use of new unmanned aircraft technology and employed Malloy T-150 octacopter UAVs for inter-ship cargo transfers.
F-35B cross-decking operations were completed with the U.S., Italy, and Japan, with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Kaga becoming the first ever Japanese warship to host a British jet. When hosting F-35Bs from other nations, the total number of jets on board HMS Prince of Wales at one time reached a record number of 26.
For the first time ever, aircraft carriers from both the UK and India worked together during an exercise, and Indian Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft went up against British F-35Bs in a carrier defence scenario.
A port visit to Darwin, Australia, marked the first visit of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier to the country since 1997 – almost three decades. UK Defence Secretary John Healey and then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy flew out to Australia to mark the occasion.
Unexpected challenges also tested personnel during the deployment. Mechanical failures on F-35Bs saw two high-profile diversions to airfields ashore, including one in India which saw the jet stranded for over a month.
Nice work by the @RAF_Marham engineering team in seemingly not only getting the @RoyalAirForce F-35B that had been stuck in India airworthy, but airworthy enough to return to @HMSPWLS off Australia after a 4,000 mile flight (supported by a Voyager tanker). https://t.co/hhLaUoUpK8
— Dr Phil Weir (@navalhistorian) July 23, 2025
Availability issues within the Royal Navy’s submarine service mean that – though official comment is rarely made on submarine movements – open source analysts were able to deduce that the majority of HMS Prince of Wales’ deployment had been completed without a Royal Navy submarine escort. It is unknown whether the shortfall was instead met by allied nations. The presence of a submarine is a key part of the strike group’s anti-submarine warfare measures, able to clear a way ahead for the group avoiding the eyes and ears of opposing submarines.
During the CSG 21 deployment, which was supported by Astute class submarine HMS Astute, the hunt for a suspected Chinese submarine by HMS Richmond and its Merlin HM2 helicopter was documented by an on-board TV crew.
Though Suez Canal and Red Sea transits have always been conducted with heightened security measures, recent events involving Houthi attacks on shipping in the area led to the CSG taking extensive measures for self-defence complete with a massive reinforcement of RAF Akrotiri with aircraft to assist in providing a 24/7 overwatch of the fleet. Round-the-clock readiness was maintained by the Wildcat helicopter embarked on HMS Dauntless, prepared to launch at a moment’s notice to intercept incoming threats with its Martlet missiles.
Thankfully, unlike in 2021, pandemic restrictions have largely been able to be withdrawn and the CSG’s personnel were able to enjoy runs ashore in Japan, Greece, Singapore, and many other countries. Escorts from the CSG called into some lesser visited locations, with HMS Richmond visiting the Philippines and Vietnam, and HNoMS Roald Amundsen calling into Sri Lanka.
Konnichiwa 👋🇯🇵
A big moment for us as we sailed into Tokyo for the first time yesterday.#CSG25 pic.twitter.com/h0VVJJ8qTT
— HMS Prince of Wales (@HMSPWLS) August 29, 2025
Replenishment vessel RFA Tidespring, which is remaining at sea through to 2026, carried out 79 at-sea replenishments during its time with the CSG. The tanker split from the group before its leg through the Suez Canal, and instead travelled the long way around Africa. This allowed engagement along the way with a number of African nations, which, again, see a far less common Royal Navy presence than some of the main CSG’s destinations.
The next UK carrier deployment to the Indo-Pacific is currently scheduled for 2029. According to the latest plans, this deployment will see the debut of a hybrid air wing and task force, featuring unmanned collaborative combat aircraft and unmanned surface and sub-surface vessels.
