“HMS Queen Elizabeth”
Aircraft carrier stops departure for NATO maneuvers at the last minute
February 4, 2024, 2:04 p.m
The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth” is actually supposed to set off for the major NATO exercise Steadfast Defender today. But nothing will come of it in the short term. A (royal) replacement has already been taken care of. But this too has been hit with technical problems in the past.
The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth” cannot take part in the largest NATO exercise in decades due to a technical problem. The departure was stopped at the last minute, the Royal Navy announced. “During routine pre-departure checks yesterday, a problem was identified with a clutch on the starboard propeller shaft of HMS Queen Elizabeth,” Vice Admiral Andrew Burns said, according to the British news agency PA. “Therefore the ship will not leave on Sunday.”
The Navy announced on Friday that the “Queen Elizabeth” would leave today. Instead, the sister ship “HMS Prince of Wales” is now scheduled to take part in the maneuver. The two aircraft carriers were put into service just a few years ago.
Now there is already the second major failure: a year and a half ago, the “Prince of Wales” had to abort its journey to joint exercises with the US and Canadian navies after a few miles near the Isle of Wight off southern England due to damage to the propeller shaft . A Defense Ministry spokesman in London said there was no connection between the problems.
Around 90,000 soldiers are expected to take part in the major NATO exercise called Steadfast Defender by the end of May. According to information from the German Press Agency, the scenario is a Russian attack on Allied territory, which leads to the declaration of the so-called alliance case according to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. The latter regulates the obligation to provide assistance in the alliance and states that an armed attack against one or more allies is viewed as an attack against all.