Day 222:The Wrap-Up

After 222 days at sea, 15 countries, and over 40,000 nautical miles, Carrier Strike Group 2025 has come to an end.

Royal Navy warships and vessels have returned to the UK with great fanfare after a successful eight-month deployment on Operation Highmast, the UK’s most important naval deployment of 2025.

Led by HMS Prince of Wales, the Group sailed from Portsmouth and Devonport in April and began its journey towards the Red Sea. Supporting the UK’s vessels every step of the way was Norway’s HNoMS Roald Admunsen. After the first major stop in the Mediterranean, for Operation Med Strike, the Group were on the move again and traversing the notoriously narrow Suez Canal along the scenic Egyptian coast.  

CSG25 spent four months in Indo-Pacific, first stopping in Singapore where celebrations were held to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between the host nation and the UK. Further engagements carried members of the fleet to nearby Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Training and operational exercises spanned from Australia to Japan, from Malaysia to India. And along the way, vessels and aircraft from Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United States joined Operation Highmast. 

Carrier Strike Group 2025 was a deployment marked by its successes and its wealth of history-making. 

CSG25 was the first UK Carrier Group to visit Australia since 1997. While there, the fleet took part in Talisman Sabre, the large-scale multinational training exercise led by the Australian Navy. This would be the largest military exercise in the nation’s history. One of the many highlights included Royal Marines swooping down on a passenger ferry in a simulated exercise that took place right in front of the Sydney Opera House. 

The Carrier Strike Group also played host to several British dignitaries throughout its deployment, including Minister for the Armed Forces, Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP; UK Defence Secretary, John Healey MP; UK Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP; British High Commissioner to India, Ms. Lindy Cameron; and Head of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins. 

Rounding out the list of visiting dignitaries was British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who became the first PM in a generation to overnight on a Royal Navy warship. 

The fleet’s four-month journey through the Indo-Pacific delivered several military ‘firsts’ for the UK and her international allies. The Japanese ship, Kaga, recorded its first UK F-35B landing, while HNoMS Roald Admunsen became the first Norwegian ship to visit India, Japan, and Singapore; sailing further east than any ship before her. 

In Malaysia, UKCSG25 was also the first carrier group since 1997 to take part in Exercise Bersama Lima, the annual workout conducted under the Five Powers Defence Arrangement. And on the journey home, HMS Prince of Wales recorded the largest-ever embarkment of fifth-generation sovereign air wing, welcoming 26 F-35B jets on board.

Declared “fully operational” in the final leg of Operation Highmast, the UK Carrier Strike Group is now ready to take on NATO duties beginning in 2026.