British Defense Secretary John Healey announced to the House of Commons yesterday that the HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers, departed Portsmouth for a long-planned deployment to the Indo-Pacific region called Operation Highmast. The deployment follows on the heels of a five-month Western Pacific tour of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle which began last November.
According to a report in Newsweek, the Prince of Wales will be accompanied by the destroyer HMS Dauntless and two frigates. Two Norwegian ships and a Canadian ship round out the task force. “[Operation Highmast] will reaffirm that the U.K. is secure at home and strong abroad and reinforce the U.K.’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific,” said Royal Navy Commodore James Blackmore, who is the commanding officer of the Prince of Wales-led carrier strike group.
