Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales delayed by heavy fog in Norway

OPA WIRE, Nov 9 (OPA) — Heavy fog disrupted the movement of Britain's largest warship over the weekend, delaying the arrival of the HMS Prince of Wales by approximately 24 hours. The captain of the 920-foot aircraft carrier refused to navigate the 65,000-ton vessel into a narrow Norwegian fjord due to safety concerns. The Norwegian armed forces' operational headquarters in Bodø confirmed the captain deemed the visibility too low for a safe transit. The carrier was eventually escorted into the port city by the £1 billion missile defence destroyer HMS Dauntless, alongside Norwegian coastguards and police.

Defence sources defended the maneuver as an example of sound seamanship rather than an operational failure. While the vessel and its crew are trained for low-visibility operations, officials noted there was no urgent operational imperative to force the passage through the tight gap given ample time before the scheduled events. The warship arrived in Oslo to participate in the 1st Sea Lord's International Sea Power Conference and the Atlantic Future Forum, which concludes on Thursday. The deployment forms part of a broader mission to the Arctic and High North involving NATO's Neptune Strike wargames.

The deployment follows a series of technical setbacks for the Queen Elizabeth-class carrier since entering service nine years ago. In August 2022, the warship suffered a major propulsion failure when a shaft coupling broke two days after departing Portsmouth for the United States, resulting in a £25 million repair bill and nearly a year out of service. More recently, a minor defect in May required repairs ahead of a scheduled deployment to mark the United States' 250th anniversary. Despite these historical hurdles, the vessel has remained active in recent weeks, including launching F-35B stealth jets alongside Norwegian F-35As to escort a U.S. B-52 bomber.

The current Arctic deployment involves more than 1,200 personnel operating across 17 nations, 20 warships, 40 aircraft, and three naval task groups. Last week, the aircraft carrier scrambled its stealth jets to intercept a Russian Tu-195 Bear long-range bomber operating in the region. The Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment regarding the weather-related delay. Sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth recently returned to Portsmouth following its own operational stint at sea.