What lessons can we learn from HMSQE's milestone deployment? The Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has returned home after several months deployed in the Western Atlantic from the Westlant 19 deployment, a major exercise designed to test her ability to work as both an aircraft carrier, and also as the lead for the wider ‘Carrier Strike Group’ (CSG) concept.
This has been a landmark deployment for the ship and is a major milestone on the path towards getting the UK to be truly back in the aircraft carrier game again. But why is it so important and what lessons can we draw from it?
The introduction to service of the Queen Elizabeth (QE) has taken several years and, arguably, some false dawns.
After leaving Rosyth where she was built in the summer of 2017, she undertook initial sea trials in the North Sea, helping confirm the ship could function as expected.
These trials involved some helicopter operations, but didn’t embark any F35 jets – leading to unfair criticism that these were ‘carriers without any planes’.
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