Broken down Royal Navy aircraft carrier returns to home base ahead of repairs

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has limped back to its home base after breaking down off the Isle of Wight.

The £3 billion warship left Portsmouth Naval Base last Saturday on its way to the US for diplomatic visits and exercises, including flight trials with the F-35B Lightning jets.

The Navy announced on Friday that sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the fleet flagship, would sail next week to take over its US duties.

The departure of the 65,000-tonne ship had already been delayed from the previous day because of a technical problem but a decision was taken to sail anyway.

The carrier sailed back slowly to Stokes Bay at Gosport, Hampshire, on Monday travelling at a rate of four knots accompanied by tugs for the return journey to calmer waters.

The shaft is a combination of steel poles joined together with a shaft coupling, one of which has failed.

It is understood this was caused by a mechanical failure not because of a failure to keep the coupling greased.

A wake could only be seen on the port side of the ship as it returned while being assisted by the tug Apex and two pilot boats.

Shoppers and well-wishers lined the harbour walls to catch a glimpse of the giant ship’s return, dwarfing the buildings of Old Portsmouth as it passed by.

The Nato flagship had been sailing to undertake training exercises with the US Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the US Marine Corps.

The crew of the HMS Queen Elizabeth have been notified they will now be sailing to the US, altering its previous plans for deployments to the Baltic and Mediterranean this autumn.

The Navy had said prior to the departure of HMS Prince of Wales that notable port stops during the three-month deployment would be in New York, Halifax in Canada and the Caribbean.

Rear Admiral Steve Moorhouse, director of Force Generation, who is responsible for making sure Royal Navy ships are ready to deploy, confirmed on Friday that HMS Queen Elizabeth would take over the US duties.

“Our initial assessment has shown that coupling that joins the final two sections of the shaft has failed.

“Now this is an extremely unusual fault and we continue to pursue all repair options.”