A U.K. aircraft carrier that was to lead NATO’s biggest exercises since the Cold War will not sail Sunday after a problem with its propeller was discovered during final checks, the Royal Navy said.
HMS Queen Elizabeth will not join the exercises off the Arctic coast of Norway and will be replaced by the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.
The change of plans is almost a reverse scenario of what happened in August 2022, when HMS Prince of Wales broke down due to a propeller problem while en route to conduct training exercises with the United States and Canada off North America. The carrier had to be towed back to port from the Isle of Wight and HMS Queen Elizabeth took her place in the exercises.
With the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sidelined, the Royal Navy may not be able to deploy aircraft in the Red Sea – as UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has suggested – where hostilities have been escalating with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacking cargo ships in waters connecting Asia with Europe and the United States.
The U.K. joined the U.S. on Saturday in striking 36 Houthi targets in Yemen in a second wave of strikes aimed at further incapacitating the Iranian-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked U.S. and international interests.
The propeller problem is the second setback for the Royal Navy in less than three weeks, following a collision of two warships in a Bahrain port that damaged the vessels but left no injuries.
Military officials said they are investigating the cause of the collision in which HMS Chiddingfold appeared to back toward HMS Bangor when it was docked. The two minehunters were based in the Middle East to help protect merchant ships.
HMS Prince of Wales will now lead the Steadfast Defender exercise with a carrier strike of eight ships, four from the UK, along with U.S., Spanish and Danish ships.