Sister actDemonstrating the advantages of having two aircraft carriers and subject to final ministerial approval, HMS Queen Elizabeth will take over some, but not all, aspects of her sister’s programme. QNLZ was due to commence a 4-month deployment to the Baltic and Mediterranean with embarked F-35 jets. Instead, she will sail next week for the east coast of the US and perform some of the defence engagement tasks that were planned for PWLS, in particular hosting the Atlantic Future Forum in New York (28-29 September).
Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth is likely to stand in for its sister ship during diplomatic visits and military exercises off the US coast after the HMS Prince of Wales broke down off the Isle of Wight.
7 Sept 2022 - HMS Queen Elizabeth begins US deployment after sister ship broke down off Isle of Wight
The Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth has set sail to take part in a US deployment in place of its sister ship which broke down off the Isle of Wight. HMS Prince of Wales limped back to Portsmouth Naval Base on Saturday after a coupling on its starboard propeller shaft broke.The crew of the carrier were notified last week that they would be sailing to the USThe crew of the carrier were notified last week that they would be sailing to the US, altering previous plans for deployments to the Baltic and Mediterranean this autumn.
The navy has not detailed which of HMS Prince of Wales’s diplomatic engagements and military exercises will be carried out by HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The programme included flight trials with F-35B Lightning jets and port stops in New York, Halifax in Canada, and the Caribbean.
But the Royal Navy has confirmed it will be in New York to host the Atlantic Future Forum – a defence conference aimed at strengthening UK and US bonds.
After the US commitments, HMS Queen Elizabeth will return to Europe to take part in operations in the Baltic and Mediterranean with Nato partners.
20 Sept 2022 - @HMSQNLZ has crossed the Atlantic and arrived in the US today at Naval Station Norfolk.
The Royal Navy’s flagship is tonight at anchor in the shadow of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline on a high-profile visit to New York.
Four years after her debut in the Big Apple, aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to the ‘city which never sleeps’ to focus on Anglo-American military, political and strategic relations.
The warship sailed at the last minute to New York, where it hosted the Atlantic Future Forum (AFF) - a defence conference focusing on Anglo-American military, political and strategic relations.
The 65,000-tonne warship is the floating venue for the Atlantic Future Forum – a conference which brings together the brightest minds and most influential thinkers from defence and beyond to strengthen UK and US bonds.
She dropped anchor within sight of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s unique profile adding to an already dramatic skyline.
The carrier was welcomed into New York by the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Pierce.
“HMS Queen Elizabeth is not only the United Kingdom’s flagship, but is a fantastic demonstration of the soft power and the close working relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the transatlantic relationship,” she said.
“It’s an enormous honour to sail into New York on her. We share an endeavour in remaining the United States’ closest ally and I am very proud of what the ship has achieved for Britain in her deployment to the Indo-Pacific last year.”
Over the next few days, Captain Ian Feasey, HMS Queen Elizabeth’s Commanding Officer, will welcome hundreds of guests to the ship, which has been transformed into a unique, world-class conference venue for the forum.
“It is an amazing privilege to bring HMS Queen Elizabeth back to New York and to be formally welcomed to the United States by His Majesty’s Ambassador,” he said.
“We are very much looking forward to hosting the fifth Atlantic Future Forum and welcoming onboard senior leaders that embody our deep and special relationship with the United States.”
AFF Director Stephen Watson said the fifth iteration of the forum would see “political, military and business leaders to address some of the challenging questions of our time.”
He continued: “The welcome which has been offered to the UK’s flagship by our American hosts is testament to the strength and currency of the relationship between our two nations. I hope that our Forum will continue to build on the understanding and bonds between us.”
25 Sept 2022 - Royal Navy Carrier Calls in New York City
Four years after her debut in the Big Apple, aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to the ‘city which never sleeps’ to focus on Anglo-American military, political and strategic relations.
The Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth has sailed into its home port after taking the place of its sister ship which broke down on the way to a diplomatic visit to the United States.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “In the coming months, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be at the heart of a powerful task group made up of thousands of sailors, up to 10 ships, F-35B Lightning jets, helicopter squadrons and Royal Marines Commandos which will operate across Europe this autumn.
“The Royal Navy task force will work closely with allies and partners across Europe – from the Baltic all the way south to the Balkans and Black Sea region – over the coming months.
The Queen Elizabeth returned to the home of the Royal Navy on Thursday where it is expected to prepare to continue its autumn programme of exercises in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas.
And talk about an important aspect of the US and UK’s shared future and by that I mean our economic partnership.I lived briefly in the US, and learned very quickly that Americans and New Yorkers especially, like to cut to the chase.So, I’m going to get straight to the point:Right now, there’s a global growth slow-down underway.And if you’ll forgive the pun, we need all hands on-deck to get the world economy’s wheels spinning again.
As Eric said, this is the first broadband war. That is not just broadband in technologies but in mind-set and leadership, and technology has been central to the response. But the unity and resolve in Great Britain and the United States, among our European Allies and others in responding to such an act of aggression has also been very striking. We have imposed major macro-economic costs on President Putin, we have frustrated his war machine and we have strengthened Ukrainian leverage and power. We know this caught Russia off-guard: our sanctions have already seen Russia facing its first external debt default potentially for a century. Above all, it demonstrated that the ‘political west’ has the economic weight to defend global stability and promote the values we cherish, of openness, sovereignty and freedom.
Now this systematic competition that we have described is intensifying, and is growing in complexity. The geopolitical order is being superseded or placed within a wider new global order of opinion and connectivity and narrative. Our mission on economic security is clear and crystallising – at home and with partners, and I propose to touch on three aspects of that mission.
The first is learning from our Russia/Ukraine experience in order to do more to resist aggression and coercion. That means focusing on deepening co-operation with G7 allies to build a new economic security mechanism; what the Prime Minister has called an ‘Economic NATO’ that will improve our collective ability to assess, deter, and respond to threats from aggressive powers, including economic coercion...
Secondly, we must build our own resilience to shocks – this has been a big theme of the last 24 hours – whether those shocks are organic or come from outside. The most urgent part of this task is to build redundancy and to end our dependence on authoritarian states, which would weaponise our very openness and integration and connectivity to hurt us. We have shown unprecedented resolve in this respect – divesting away from Russian energy supply is a signal of the utmost importance in underlining our willingness to bear short term economic costs in defending a sovereign free state from unprovoked aggression...
Finally, we must learn in this new world to “play offence” even better than we are at the moment. That means not to abandon but to practice and exemplify the values we are defending: to promote the liberal international trading order, whose transformative benefits we have seen for so many decades across the world, and to be a dynamic, reliable and trustworthy partner...
Ladies and gentlemen, the war of the future is the war of hearts and minds as well as weapons. It was ever thus, but it is more so now than ever before. We need to build and maintain that trust – and we will. Thank you very much indeed.