Royal Navy Carrier Heads "East of Suez"
HMS Prince of Wales
Early on May 24, ships of the HMS Prince of Wales carrier strike group began a southerly transit of the Suez Canal. Although CSG 25 flagship HMS Prince of Wales (R09) was not spotted, HMS Dauntless (D33), Canadian HMCS Ville de Quebec (F332), Spanish ESPS Mendez Nunez (F104), Royal Norwegian Navy Nansen Class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311) and Norwegian logistics vessel HNoMS Maud (A530) were seen in the northern reaches of the canal by @MT_Anderson early in the day. The complete CSG is now likely to be through the Canal.
@MT_Anderson spotted the CSG on imagery passing through the mid-Canal Great Bitter Lake, and also identified that the CSG was accompanied by two US Navy Arleigh Burke destroyers, one of which could be USS Truxtun (D103). The presence with the CSG of a US Navy presence is politically useful, as the Houthis are in an agreed ceasefire with the United States, and the Houthis are unlikely to be able to identify individual units of the CSG.
At about the same time the USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) carrier strike group sailed westwards through the Straits of Gibraltar and out of the Mediterranean, homeward bound.
Now that the military operation against the Houthis is over, the CSG 25 commander has the choice of making directly for the Bab el Mandeb and clearing the Red Sea. But the timetable for such a move would be predictable. Instead he may wish for a period to conduct maritime security operations in the central Red Sea, the area from which the USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) mounted its air campaign against targets in Yemen. An exit southwards from the Red Sea would then become less predictable.
HMS Prince of Wales has on board two F-35B squadrons (809 Naval Air Squadron and 617 Squadron RAF), as well as Wildcat and Merlin surveillance helicopters, with Chinooks to lift the Royal Marines onboard.
Royal Navy Marks 85th Anniversary of the Dunkirk Evacuation
Royal Navy warships have escorted a flotilla of the legendary ‘Little Ships of Dunkirk’ across the English Channel for the anniversary of the great World War Two evacuation.
Eighty-five years ago – between 26 May and 4 June 1940 – about 850 private boats of all shapes and sizes sailed from UK shores through heavy enemy fire on a rescue mission to save allied troops stranded on the beaches and harbor at Dunkirk as the Nazis swept through France.
Re-enacting the heroic Operation Dynamo voyage - which saw more than 338,000 soldiers rescued to fight another day - was a flotilla of 66 little ships which left Ramsgate Royal Harbor for a transit to Dunkirk.
These iconic ships were escorted to the French port by seven Royal Navy patrol vessels, as well as RNLI lifeboats, accompanied by scores of spectator craft.
Making the commemorations even more poignant was the death of one of the last naval known veterans of Dunkirk – telegraphist Duncan McInnes, who died at the age of 105 last week in Australia, just days before the 85th anniversary.
Duncan served on Admiralty S-class destroyer HMS Saladin during Operation Dynamo, and the little ships lowered their ensigns to half-mast on Monday to mark his passing.
“This will be the first time when we’ve gone over when there are no veterans,” said Ian Gilbert, Honorary Vice Admiral, Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. “The little ships are the veterans because the living link has now gone and we have to keep these boats alive to keep the memory alive.”
Commemorative events started May 20, with seven P2000 patrol craft of the Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces Squadron arriving in Ramsgate, joining the flotilla of little ships.
Twenty-one personnel from Victory Squadron at HMS Collingwood were also involved, embarking in the little ships for the crossing.
Musicians of the Royal Marines Band from Portsmouth paraded in Ramsgate as His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, Commodore-in-Chief of the Maritime Reserves, took the salute and unveiled a statue that commemorates the events on Dunkirk.
"It is hugely important to continue to commemorate such events in our history and highlighting the role such little ships had to play in Operation Dynamo. Coastal Forces Squadron is very proud to be a part of this event, particularly since it has been ten years since the last commemoration of this scale. It will be quite a spectacle to see so many paying their respects across the Channel," Coastal Forces Squadron Commanding Officer Commander Carla Higgins said.
This article appears courtesy of the Royal Navy and may be found in its original form here.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
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