HMS Prince of Wales departs for ‘Cold Response’

The UK Royal Navy’s (RN’s) second Queen Elizabeth-class carrier (QEC), HMS Prince of Wales, has departed for the Arctic to start its first operational deployment as command ship for NATO’s High Readiness Force (Maritime).

The carrier set sail from Portsmouth on 7 March and is bound for northern Norway where it will operate as NATO’s command platform for Exercise ‘Cold Response’. This year’s iteration of the biennial Norwegian-led NATO exercise, which starts on 14 March and will continue until early April, will feature 35,000 troops from 28 countries operating in a scenario to defend Norway and Europe’s northern flank from a modern adversary. It will be the largest exercise to take place in Norway in 30 years.

The RN said the deployment to the region will be the first time one of the QEC carriers has operated in the exercise.