Britain’s powerful flagship HMS Prince of Wales has sailed from Portsmouth today to begin preparations for her next mission.

The aircraft carrier will shortly embark Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, plus Malloy drones, as her crew of over 900 ready themselves and their warship for the next phase of operations.

They are preparing for the deployment of the Carrier Strike Group to the High North and North Atlantic later this year, which will include activity under NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission.

The High North continues to be a critical area of interest to the Royal Navy with regular deployments to the Arctic Circle and surrounding areas – working alongside allies and partners.

It comes as the Royal Navy and the wider UK Armed Forces continue to be ready to protect UK waters and wider interests from a variety of potential threats. Our men and women are prepared with a range of cutting-edge equipment, ships and aircraft to ensure the safety of infrastructure and other critical systems.

The 65,000-tonne warship has been in Portsmouth Naval Base since the end of November when she completed an eight-month mission to the western Indo-Pacific region, leading the Royal Navy’s premier deployment of 2025: Operation Highmast.

Her ship’s company have worked side-by-side with naval base staff and contractors to clean, service, maintain and upgrade thousands of systems for operations before loading food, spare parts and supporting equipment over the past few days ready for today’s departure.

Air power for HMS Prince of Wales’ initial preparation will be provided by Merlin helicopters of 820 Naval Air Squadron at Culdrose, maritime Wildcats of 815 Naval Air Squadron and battlefield Wildcats from 847 Naval Air Squadron, both based at RNAS Yeovilton.

“HMS Prince of Wales ship’s company is looking forward to sailing, for the first time since returning from deployment in 2025, with their headquarters and air wing embarked,” said Commander David Mason, the flagship‘s Commander – second-in-command to Captain Ben Power.

Executive Warrant Officer David Wilson – the most senior of the hundreds of ratings on the carrier – added: “After our time alongside the ship’s company is excited and keen to get back to sea.”

The ship will undergo combined training in home waters before the ship embarks ammunition in Scotland ready for operations.