Storm Darragh Fails To Dampen Spirits On Flagship Visit

Aircraft carrier and new Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales headed for her home port of Portsmouth after an eight-day visit to Liverpool, one of her two affiliated cities.

During the stay the ship received the Freedom of the City at a special ceremony, and was also able to welcome more than 5,000 lucky members of the public on board on Sunday for tours of the vessel. Sadly, a similar event planned for Saturday had to be cancelled as Storm Darragh raged.

As per a recent Royal navy press statement, among the activities on show on Sunday were demonstrations from the drone team from 700X Squadron, who showed off the lifesaving capabilities of their Malloy and Puma Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) in man-overboard drills; they launched the drone to drop equipment including rafts, life jackets and buoys.

The Malloy Aeronautics T-600 quadcopter and AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma UAS systems will be deployed as part of a three-strong team with four drones on the ship when it forms part of the Carrier Strike Group in 2025.

Meanwhile a scale model and replica jets and helicopter were used to demonstrate to members of the public how sailors will marshal more than a dozen F-35 jet fighters plus Merlin/Wildcats helicopters on Prince of Wales' maiden deployment.

Unlike on the old generation of carriers, the jets are marshalled forward, while the aft flight deck is devoted to helicopters; the ship's F-35s need just 350ft of run-up, aided by the ski ramp, to get airborne.

Before the ship set sail for Portsmouth it embarked 270 family members for the voyage home by way of saying thank-you for their support: the carrier has been away for long periods in 2024 and is scheduled to be deployed for most of 2025, too.

• You can read more details about the visit on the Royal Navy website