British NATO Flagship May Miss Trials With F-35B Lightning Jets Because of Breakdown

On Saturday, the British HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, the United Kingdom’s largest warship, broke down because of "damage to its propeller shaft" soon after it left Portsmouth - a port in southern England - to make its way to the US.

HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the United Kingdom's Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, which was commissioned in 2019, risks skipping exercises in the United States. The $3.5Bln, 65,000-tonne warship had been scheduled to take part in trials with F-35B Lightning jets in the US during the four-month deployment.

“After the initial assessment, it’s likely that the fault will require repairs which may affect the ship’s program. The ship is now moving to a more sheltered anchorage for further inspection and then we’ll be able to provide further comment on the nature of the issue and the impact to her current schedule,” Rear-Admiral Steve Moorhouse, director of Force Generation, said as quoted by The Guardian.

According to the specialist website Navy Lookout, if the breakdown cannot be resolved at sea, the carrier might need to go into dry dock at Rosyth, Scotland, much earlier than its planned inspection in 2023.

HMS Prince of Wales was on its way for a four-month deployment to the United States when it broke down. It now remains at the south coast exercise area near the Isle of Wight.

This is not the first time there have been problems with the aircraft carrier: in 2020, HMS Prince of Wales, NATO’s flagship carrier, was out of order for six months because its engine room had been flooded. Then the planned departure of the ship to the United States had to be canceled and it was stranded in Portsmouth.

According to reports, in its first two years in service, HMS Prince of Wales reportedly spent fewer than 90 days at sea.