HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to deploy to the “cauldron” of the Mediterranean this year in a show of naval strength designed to deter Russian aggression.

While her sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, continues to languish in dry dock in Scotland, Queen Elizabeth will sail to the Mediterranean, leading a carrier strike group for the fourth time in four years. The deployment could allow F-35 Lightning jets to take off from the first-in-class carrier and fly over the Black Sea.

The Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers were built at a cost of £3.2 billion each with the intention of alternating them on deployments. However, a problem was discovered with the starboard propeller shaft on Prince of Wales last year and it has been undergoing repairs in Rosyth ever since. 3 The 284m-long warship has spent more time in dock than it has at sea since being commissioned into the navy four years ago and the cost of repairs has increased to £25 M, up from an initial estimate of £3 M.

Baroness Goldie, the defence minister, gave an updated estimate of costs in response to a written question but said “responsibility for the payment” had “not yet been established”. Thales, the French defence company, and Kongsberg, its Norwegian subcontractor, have been blamed for the errors as the Ministry of Defence seeks compensation, The Times revealed this year.

Goldie said that planned upgrades to the flight deck and avionics system of Prince of Wales had been brought forward to during repairs to the propeller shaft and said the MoD remained “committed” to getting the ship back on operational duties in the autumn. It is expected to leave dry dock next month. A navy source dismissed concerns that the problems with Prince of Wales had put extra strain on Queen Elizabeth.

“Whilst totally unexpected and disappointing, HMS Prince of Wales’ repair fortuitously coincided with a planned capability upgrade period in 2023,” the source said. “The consequences of her non-availability and impact on HMS Queen Elizabeth last year were minimal.” Although Queen Elizabeth was always expected to lead a carrier strike group in 2023, the problems with Prince of Wales have scuppered plans to deploy the two carriers together this year.

Queen Elizabeth’s first deployment as part of a carrier strike group took place in the North Sea in 2020. A year later, she led a deployment to the Far East that visited 40 countries over seven-and-a-half months including a daring passage through the Taiwan strait — although the trip ended disastrously when an £85 million F-35B Lightning jet crashed into the Mediterranean on the way back to the UK.

The decision to deploy Queen Elizabeth to the Mediterranean signals a tacit admission of the need to bolster Britain’s military presence closer to home in Europe following the aircraft carrier’s adventures in the IndoPacific in 2021. Italy has warned of a growing Russian presence off the shores of southern Europe and Moscow maintains a naval base at Tartus in Syria. Turkey has closed the Bosphorus to all warships following the invasion of Ukraine, meaning Queen Elizabeth will not enter the Black Sea like HMS Defender, the Type 45 destroyer that received warning shots from Russia when it visited Ukraine on a deployment in 2021.

Admiral Lord West, the former first sea lord, said the eastern Mediterranean had become “a real cauldron”. “If you look at the eastern Mediterranean, you have access into the Black Sea as well as Syria. A carrier strike group makes Putin have to think twice about things. He needs to realise we are taking the threat seriously,” he said.

An MoD spokesman said: “HMS Prince of Wales was always scheduled to be alongside for much of 2023 for upgrade work. Throughout the ship’s period of repair we have continued

to fulfil our Nato commitments.” “We remain committed to ensuring HMS Prince of Wales commences her operational programme as planned, in autumn 2023, including operational flying training and trials.” Source: The Times