The Royal Navy’s ‘Death Star’ is now at sea and fully operational.

11 comments

1. Carrying the biggest fifth-generation strike wing at sea anywhere

   The day before yesterday, Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales and many of her Strike Group’s ships left their respective bases to form up for the start of a global deployment called Operation Highmast.
   I remember what a day like that is like. In the flagship, the ship’s second in command will have entered the bridge, stood to attention and saluted the Captain:
   “HMS Prince of Wales singled up on all lines, ready in all respects for sea, Sir.”
   “Very good XO, I have the ship… let go all lines”.
   And that’s it. Thousands of hours of preparation, training at sea and in simulators, storing ship, safety checks, inducting new joiners, planning and maintenance, all culminating in this moment. As the last berthing line leaves the jetty, the Union Jack is struck at the bow of the ship, tugs and engines are engaged, and it’s time to go and do the job.

   This is what deploying feels like. As you pass the families gathered to wave you off, the sadness you felt when you said your personal goodbyes creeps up on you. In command, this will probably be the tenth time you’ve done it and it doesn’t get any easier, but you remind yourself that for a large percentage onboard, it will be their first. Most are in their early twenties. For some, it will be their first lengthy time away from home. A few will be looking at their new, slightly sweary shipboard family and wondering what on Earth they have done. Most will be wondering what adventures this deployment will bring. The veterans know only one thing for sure – what the ships have planned will not be what they end up doing.
   But no time for that. First, you have to get the ship clear of the wall and through the harbour entrance. That’s a piece of cake in a frigate, not at all simple in an aircraft carrier. Then you dispense with the tugs, pick up speed and tick off the various landmarks, sea forts and fixing points on the way out to sea until eventually the last piece of land disappears from sight. At this point, the quicker you can consign the departure to memory and get into a seagoing mindset, the better. A tried and tested way to do this is to throw a full-size, full weight orange man figure – traditionally called “Fred” into the water and conduct a man overboard exercise, timing how long it takes to get him back onboard. Then you run a basic fire exercise to test the Standing Sea Emergency Party. This small team will have seen videos and the statistics on what happens if a small fire isn’t put out in the first few minutes, and will have been trained to within an inch of their lives to make sure they can.

   These drills are a basic, everyday part of life at sea and have saved countless lives over the years. Doing them on sailing helps with the process of normalisation, but is also a good test to see if anyone is mentally still alongside.

   In the carrier itself the scale and complexity of what you are asked to do and coordinate every day rarely allows you to settle into anything approaching a routine. There is always something happening and “Daily Orders”, the ship’s programme, can run to pages long. For both the ship’s own command team and the embarked Commodore and his battle staff, in charge of the whole group, it is relentless.
   As the carrier heads along the south coast over the next couple of days, her escorting warships and support tankers will converge on her, and her helicopters will fly aboard. For them, the mixture of sadness and excitement will be the same but at least life is comparatively simple: go where ordered and have your weapons, machinery and stores at immediate notice. Manage your ship’s company to assure that. Most importantly, don’t on any account do anything to annoy the carrier. There’s a reason escorts refer to the carrier as the “Death Star”. Careers are made or broken by the impression the carrier gets of other units on these trips.

   At some point the submarine will join. They won’t tell anyone, and most won’t know (or care) but this will be an extraordinary opportunity for the selected boat. Interesting visits and runs ashore are rare for the “Silent Service” these days and they are struggling to recruit and retain as a result. The submariners have a vital role protecting the carrier, and the sub also carries much of the Group’s striking power, but there is also a vital diplomatic role in making the Aukus alliance a real thing of steel and weapons for a while, rather than just plans. If there’s any action – in the Red Sea, the Taiwan Strait, or somewhere nobody anticipated, the more important the submariners become. The only bit they will not like is being told what to do occasionally by the Death Star – nothing more than a particularly large target, to their way of thinking.
   At some point during this forming-up phase some of the UK’s 30 available F-35B fighter jets will embark. Initially there will be 18, probably increasing to 24 later in the trip, maybe even more if the US Marines put some of their F-35Bs aboard at some stage. The MOD is keeping this number close to its chest, and rightly so. Parts of the deployment at least may see the largest gathering of stealth aircraft on one ship yet seen anywhere – the US Navy’s huge carriers are still mostly full of fourth-gen F-18 Hornets, with just an occasional stealth squadron at sea for now. I think the Royal Navy will probably set that record: to all but the most rabid of F-35 haters, that’s impressive.

   In all truth the British Carrier Strike Group has its problems, and Chinese vessels now at sea and buildingwill soon surpass and then dwarf its combat power: but this year, Britain will have the largest fifth-generation air wing on the face of the oceans.

2. Presumable is has one, small design flaw that could lead to it’s total destruction.
   I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.

3. Stop copywriting and think of something original… super mega elimination of life supernova weapon

4. Maybe it’s not the best choice to liken our best aircraft carrier to something famous for being destroyed.

5. Gross American name, couldn’t we call it something british like the hare and pickle or the badger biter

6. I read that to the imaginary tune of Rule Britannia

7. Excellent article – it does a very good job of putting into words how it feels to go out beyond the harbour wall and into that uncertainty.

8. How is the Canteen? Will it be run by Mr Stevens? …. everyyone will need a tray.. I’ll have the Penne al’arrabiata.

9. Personally, I’m not particularly stoked about the idea that we have a very strong ship called The Prince of Wales, a dead pope, rising fascism and probably to be taken completely by surprise when China decides to do a thing

   I just finished listening to Supernova in the East by Dan Carlin which I thoroughly recommend

10. “Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!”

11. Death Star as in fatally Ill equipped to spot and defend itself against a swarm of cheaper tech from an amalgam of forces with deep intel on it’s frailties?

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