Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth pulls out of NATO exercise after propeller shaft snag
HMS Prince of Wales
The planned departure of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was set to lead the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War, has been abruptly cancelled after an issue with a propeller shaft was detected during final checks.
HMS Queen Elizabeth will now be replaced by HMS Prince of Wales in the NATO exercises involving over 40 vessels.
A routine problem?
This setback follows a similar incident 18 months ago when the sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, experienced a breakdown off the Isle of Wight due to a malfunction with a coupling on its starboard propeller.
On X, formerly Twitter, the Royal Navy posted: "Routine pre-sailing checks yesterday identified an issue with a coupling on HMS Queen Elizabeth starboard propeller shaft. As such, the ship will not sail on Sunday."
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"HMS Prince of Wales will take her place on NATO duties and will set sail for exercise Steadfast Defender as soon as possible."
As per the Independent, it is primed to lead a carrier strike involving eight ships, with four British vessels, including the frigate HMS Somerset and two Tide-class tankers from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It would be supported by vessels from the US, Spain, and Denmark.
Also joining the strike are F-35B Lightning stealth fighters from the 617 "Dambusters" Squadron at RAF Marham, along with submarine hunting and airborne early warning Merlin Mk2 helicopters from RNAS Culdrose. Battlefield Wildcat helicopters of 847 Naval Air Squadron from RNAS Yeovilton are also part of the line-up.
The cancellation comes amid warnings that Britain is ill-prepared for an all-out war due to stockpile shortages and an armed forces recruitment crisis.
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As per the House of Commons defense committee, the military is "consistently overstretched", exacerbated by recruitment and retention challenges that have seen more people leaving than joining the armed forces, reports the Independent.
The cross-party group of MPs also said that the nation's military has been "hollowed out", leaving the UK unprepared for war amid increasing global instability.
(With inputs from agencies)
