For the first time in decades, British Empire’s Royal Navy has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group. Built around the brand new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the group includes the U.S. Navy’s guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivan, and the Dutch HNLMS Evertsen, as well as two Royal Navy destroyers and two frigates. Notably, a squadron of U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs are also deployed aboard the carrier alongside British F-35Bs.
“The new U.K. Carrier Strike Group is the embodiment of British maritime power, and sits at the heart of a modernized and emboldened Royal Navy,” said Commodore Steve Moorhouse, the commander of the strike group. “Protected by a ring of advanced destroyers, frigates, helicopters and submarines, and equipped with fifth generation fighters, HMS Queen Elizabeth is able to strike from the sea at a time and place of our choosing; and with our NATO allies at our side, we will be ready to fight and win in the most demanding circumstances.”
