In addition to aircrew, around 70 engineers and support staff from 617 Squadron were embarked. The core ship’s company of HMS Queen Elizabeth has now settled at 797 but for Crimson Ocean, embarked air group personnel and various specialists brought the total onboard up to around 1,100 people. A Submarine Advisory Team (SAT) also joined the ship and was attached to the Commodore’s staff for the first time. Communications and water-space management with a Royal Navy submarine (probably HMS Talent) at distance from the carrier was rehearsed as well as the control of a simulated Tomahawk Land Attack (TLAM) missile launch. HMS Kent spent 5 days in company with the carrier developing interoperability in anti-submarine warfare. Three Anti-submarine Merlin Mk2s of 820 Squadron were also embarked at the start of the deployment and further work was done on underwater warfare aspects of carrier strike. The forthcoming GroupEx will see live weapons embarked and the ‘kill-chain’ fully tested and analysed from end-to-end. No weapons or ordnance was carried by aircraft on this occasion, although the ship’s Highly Mechanised Weapons Handling System was tested in simulation mode. FOST sea riders, their task complete, disembark from the carrier by Chinook dressed in fetching once-only survival suits worn in case of ditching.Ĭommander of the Air Group, Cdr James Blackmore noted that the F-35 had proved very reliable and no planned sorties were missed.The Commodore inspects a Crash on Deck Exercise – simulating the rescue of a pilot from a damaged jet.This image gives a good idea of the aircraft’s size. One of the three embarked Merlin Mk2s in the hangar.Cdr James Blackmore, ‘Wings” – Commander Air Group, HMS Queen Elizabeth.Royal Navy pilot, Cdr Mark Sparrow, is the first non-RAF Commanding Officer of 617 Squadron.The jets on deck in unusually balmy conditions in the North Sea, 9th June 2020.Half the pilots are now night-qualified on the carrier and the rest will qualify during the forthcoming GroupEx in the Autumn. 617 is building up strength and additional pilots will join shortly on completion of training with 207 Squadron. The Carrier Strike Assurance Group (an arm of the FOST organisation) will carry out further certification during the next deployment, testing the carrier and her escorts ability to fight effectively together.Īt the same time, four Lightning II Jets and all 8 pilots of 617 Squadron joined the ship at sea for further carrier qualifications after a training package in simulators at RAF Marham.

The ship officially passed this ‘tier-1’ assessment on 17th June. The newly re-named Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST) organisation embarked sea riders to ensure the ship is safe to operate and can effectively exercise damage control and fight fire and floods. Despite some scepticism that it would be safe, the ship has remained COVID-free and the new protection measures have proved successful throughout the fleet. As a result of COVID-19, the programme was amended with her crew self-isolating and being tested before sailing. The ship returned to Portsmouth today and we spoke to senior officers about the experience and the future programme.Īpart from a brief logistic stop, the ship was at sea for 67 days, covering 12,000 nautical miles and conducted a total of 1,610 aircraft launch and recoveries. On the 29th April HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed to conduct Operational Sea Training, this was followed by her first operational exercise.

Battle group helos