Portsmouth, UK – HMS Prince of Wales, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, returned to Portsmouth on 30 November 2025 after spending months away on deployment.

Since April, the giant warship has served as a floating home for 1,600 military personnel.

During this period, the vessel led a multi-national fleet of warships on a global deployment known as “Operation High Mast”.

The UK’s conventional aircraft carriers were earmarked for decommissioning in 1966, a process that was completed in 1979. Smaller aircraft carriers equipped with Sea Harrier vertical takeoff jets then entered service and were later used in the Falklands War in 1982.

The two new aircraft carriers, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth, were originally planned to be sold abroad. However, the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and other factors resulted in at least one of those planned sales being cancelled. Both ships are now set to remain in Royal Navy service as new global threats emerge.

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