This photo and video essay cover the activities of the UK Carrier Strike Group in September and October. Having gone as far east as planned, the group began its westward journey home, including participation in three major exercises during this period.
After more than 120 days spent at sea since leaving Portsmouth in May, units of the CSG arrived in Guam for a period of mid deployment maintenance and rest on 13th September ahead of the next phase of the deployment. This second visit to the island was because the time spent in Yokosuka, Japan was curtailed by COVID restrictions confining crews to ships. While in Guam, personnel were able to get ashore for well-deserved rest and relaxation.
HMS Queen Elizabeth and the CSG units sailed from Guam on 27th September and conducted their first exercises with the Royal New Zealand Navy. HMNZS Te Kaha has just had a major upgrade and HMNZS Aotearoa’s is on her first operational deployment to the South East Asia region. The ships later accompanied the group through the South China Sea en route to participate in exercise Bersama Gold 21.
Taiwan Strait
Having previously been deployed on operations to support the enforcement of United Nations sanctions against North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, HMS Richmond made a direct transit through the Taiwan Strait. Only a single frigate of the CSG made this journey but it was clearly a signal to China that the Strait must remain an international waterway open to everyone. There can be no accusations of any sinister intent as the transit was publicised in a Tweet from the ship and Richmond’s AIS was activated allowing her progress to be monitored by all.
Bersama Gold
Exercise Bersama Gold 2021 included the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) nations – Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. (The biennial Bersama Shield exercise was renamed to Gold for the 50th anniversary of the FPDA). Air and naval exercises were conducted in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Singapore and included anti-air and anti-submarine exercises, gunnery firings and manoeuvring. A total of 2,600 personnel, 10 ships, 1 submarine, 6 helicopters, 3 maritime patrol aircraft, 25 fighter aircraft and 3 support aircraft joined the exercise. Planned participation by RAF Typhoons and a Voyager tanker was cancelled due to the complexities of COVID restrictions at airbases in Asia.
Besides HMS Diamond, participants in the naval aspects of Bersama Gold (8-18th October) included Malaysian frigate Lekiu and corvette Lekir, Australian LHD Canberra, New Zealand frigate Te Kaha and auxiliary Aotearoa. At the conclusion of the exercise, Malaysia hosted the 11th FPDA Defence Ministers’ Meeting at the RMAF Subang airbase. Unfortunately, HMS Diamond suffered an undisclosed technical fault (not propulsion related) and arrived back in Sembawang for repairs on 16th October, missing the FPDA review and flypast held off Singapore Marina South on 18th October. Diamond completed a week of repairs and sailed on 25th.
Quad Carrier Operations
Meanwhile, at the beginning of October, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and CSG units met up with three other aircraft carriers in the Philippine Sea for the largest assembly of sea power seen on the deployment. USS Carl Vinson, USS Ronald Reagan & JS Ise undertook combined exercises. The assembled ships from 6 nations totalled half a million tons with an equally impressive air wing.
After passing westwards through the Luzon Strait, the CSG re-entered the South China Sea bound for Singapore. Commenting on the passage COMUKCSG said; “It is a big piece of international water, so lots of nations were flying and sailing there. There was lots of Chinese activity, but it was absolutely safe, professional, and due distances and ranges were kept”. On 9th October the main units of the CSG conducted a PASSEX with the Republic of Singapore Navy frigate RSS Formidable and corvette RSS Vigour.
Following the completion of the PASSEX, HMS Queen Elizabeth called into RSS Singapura – Changi Naval Base, Singapore for a brief 3-day defence engagement visit.
Maritime Partnership Exercise
After passing through the Singapore Strait, between October 15 – 18, the CSG participated in another major set-piece – Maritime Partnership Exercise (MPX 2021) in the Bay of Bengal, including the Royal Australian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US Navy. The exercise was designed to increase interoperability between the four navies. Notably, a day later a joint Chinese-Russian naval exercise saw 10 warships sail through the Tsugaru Strait into the North Pacific.
Welcomed in India
While HMS Richmond was in Goa, HMS Defender arrived in Mumbai. 15 officers from the Indian Navy visited the ship to learn about the Integrated Electric Propulsion system that India is keen to embrace. A UK Defence & Security Industry Day was held onboard and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss later hosted Indian business leaders and guests from the world of education, film, sports and politics for an evening reception. The Minister also visited HMS Queen Elizabeth at sea off the Indian coast.
From 24-27 October exercise the CSG participated in bi-lateral exercise ‘Konkan Shakti 2021’ with the Indian Navy and Airforce off the Konkan coast in the Arabian Sea. The Indian MoD were more forthcoming about the details of this exercise than other nations have been, stating that participating units formed up as two opposing forces with the aim of achieving sea control to land troops on the coast. One force was led by the Indian Western Fleet commander on the flagship INS Chennai, INS, NS Kolkata, INS Kochi INS, INS Talwar INS Teg, the tanker INS Aditya and HMS Richmond. The rest of the CSG formed the opposing force.
Each force exercised replenishment at sea approaches, air direction, strike operations by fighter aircraft, cross control of helicopters (Sea King, Chetak, Merlin and Wildcat), gunnery and a simulated landing of troops. Simulated airstrikes were made by Indian Navy maritime patrol aircraft and MiG 29Ks with Indian Air Force SU-30 and Jaguars. An Indian Scorpene-class submarine and RN-operated Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Target (EMATT) also participated.
On 19th October USS The Sullivans left the Carrier Strike Group in which she had served for more than a year to make the long journey home to her base at Mayport in Florida. “The destroyer and her 280-strong crew have made a significant contribution, both in the pre-deployment exercising off the coast of Scotland last spring and throughout the CSG’s deployment since May,” the MoD said in a statement. She was given a big send-off by the CSG as she made a high-speed sail past of the ships in line astern in the Arabian Sea.
The CSG will head to Oman to begin exercises in the Gulf region before heading back through the Suez canal on the final leg of the deployment that will see them return to the UK in mid-December.
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Lovely.
Great reports and photo!
Fantastic photo journalism!
In the photo with the F/A-18s, EA-18 Growlers and US & UK F-35s, if you look behind the planes, you can see a MH-60R flying below!
Sri Lanka needs new ships. The SLNS Samudura is an old US USCG Reliance-class Medium Endurance Cutter, launched in 1967!
The USCG has had some pretty ships down the years.
Pretty much the same age as the IAF Jaguars, it’s strange to see them flying with F35’s.
“Grandad”, “yes son”, “is it true you were on HMS Diamond during CSG21” ? “I don’t want to talk about it “
I wish there was a like button still…
Ah, the dreaded Like Button…… It was Me that got it all taken off the UKDJ site on account that the Admin and ” I’ve Degree in Cyber” stuff bloke/women, just could not control ….. hence all the Trolling and abuse of the Feature…. despite my concerns/messages to them over a period of about 4 years……. So nice to look back at all my efforts and to see that despite the cleaning up of said Trolls, I was promptly Banned….. It takes a Higher level of intellect to understand the whole Psyche that exists in the world of Internet Sites such as these……. It’s also just so nice to be able to still read every post and lol…………………. As for any Replies to this… ? I really don’t care, you are just internet folk like the rest of us……
I was banned too! For taking about Covid and how I didn’t trust the vax.
I don’t blame you get the telegram app search for mark Steele also look up Dr vernonColman.org
Excellent photos and look forward to seeing more as they move on .
Great photo’s and clearly a fantastic achievement all round.
All the same it’s pretty disappointing to read that the single British participant for the Five Powers 50th anniversary exercise was Diamond and she had to return to Singapore. Getting the full CSG involved would have sent a much more impressive and symbolic message about cooperation and the value of defence partnerships.
I think there’s some Mig 29’s in that last formation too.
Are they the carrier version ?
What a waste of money. We have so many problems closer to home. The country is reeling from a poor Covid response leading to 140,000 deaths, petrol shortages, empty supermarket shelves, businesses leaving the country and general post Brexit doldrums.
Yet we are are expected to cheer for this frippery that risks confrontation with a Superpower in their backyard. If we can have overseas territories then so can China. Leave the local countries and the US to deal with Chinese expansionism. Britain simply doesn’t have the economic power to pay for a large enough navy to maintain any serious naval presence in the Pacific. What international influence and prestige we had through the EU is gone now. We even made enemies of France, the only European country with a permanent presence in the region thanks to the Aukus fracas. And the Chinese are fully aware of the purely symbolic nature of these exercises.
Defence policy should be based on the real needs of the country, not a gimmick to try to make out that ‘Global Britain’ and Brexit have been a success when it clearly hasn’t. Even the only semi-tangiable success, Aukus, has yet to yield anything of substance. Aukus could easily end up with no submarines at all or only minor work for the UK compared to the US. Nuclear submarines are much more complicated and resource intensive than conventional ones.
Thats right, things that happen in the Far East are not our business because it doesn’t affect us. We should worry about big problems closer to home, like …. the Wuhan virus. And that place in China’s backyard – is it the same place that produces over 50% of the worlds semiconductor chips ? Why would that worry us, we’ve got horses, carriages ….
Don’t worry about the virus it was downgraded by .gov U.K. in March 2020 as no more virulent than the common cold it’s the vaccine that’s killing people
What international influence and prestige we had through the EU is gone now.
You stupid ignorant fool.
Much of it was taken away when we joined, truth be known. Onwards and upwards from now on.
I don’t understand your comment here X. Surely, what he says is strictly true: the international influence and prestige we had as members of the EU we no longer have now we aren’t members any more. Maybe you read this comment as meaning: “now we’re no longer in the EU, we no longer have any influence or prestige”, which of course would not be true. But that’s not what he said. He’s simply pointing out the surely undeniable, that whatever additional influence we had as EU members is now gone.
Re-moaner per chance ?
Its fine if you don’t agree with properly funding our armed forces: then fair enough. Defence spending has reduced 10% in the last decade – despite the fact we have been at war – whilst NHS spending has increased 40%, so your certainly in line with the zeitgeist and our Government!
But this website is for people who believe we should have strong defence, possibly focused around a strong Navy or, failing that people who just enjoy some awesome pictures of some gorgeous ships and aircraft (from loads of different nations who value working with us….)
Didnt defence get another cut in the budget, only area to aswell…
Ugh. Where to begin with you…
“Problems closer to home…” – there are always “problems” & if we wait for utopia to be achieved before attempting to move forward, we’d still be living in caves & would have never have been to the moon.
“Poor Covid response…” – We’re 27th in deaths per million and that’s based on erroneous reporting. I don’t agree with lockdowns or shutting the economy but “140,000 deaths” is meaningless without context.
“Petrol shortages, empty Supermarket shelves…” of what? Toilet roll caused by panic buying? Petrol caused by panic buying? Maybe stop watching mainstream media. Both issues caused by a shortage of HGV drivers (which is a Europe wide phenomenon) and exacerbated by the news fear-mongering. Other shortages are a logistics issue caused by the world shutting down.
“Businesses leaving the country…” – who? What catastrophic effect can you demonstrate? Show us the receipts. Have you looked at how many companies have moved here? Have expanded here? Will come here? Will be started here? Are you able to accurately predict how the UK may become a more attractive proposition to external investment? Or are you just parroting the remoaner points that have already lost the argument?
“Doesn’t have economic power…” – yes we do. We just choose to waste our economic power on subsidising wasters in society, an over bloated & poorly run health service and then “Foreign Aid” – £14B to for a Ugandan PM to feather his nest, a Brazilian fitness chain, a Mexican tourist resort and cable TV in Kyrgyzstan.
“Prestige through the EU” – There are no words for this… I’ll just take the easy route and say – you lost. Live with it or move to Europe. Quit your moaning.
“Defence based on real needs” – on this, we agree. I doubt we would agree on what those needs are though. I think we “need” to have powerful armed forces in order to have an influence in the world, promote democratic ideals, the rule of law and push back against people committing genocide and violating international agreements.
Honestly, moaning people like you that offer no solutions, only criticism based on whatever you heard that day on twitter ARE the problem. Incapable of thinking for yourself, just poo-poo everything because it’s not in line with what you’re told to think. If you don’t like Britain, the fact we left the EU or what we aspire to be, there are 194 other countries to choose from. There is no barbed wire at the border nor any social credit system stopping you getting a passport and buggering off.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the moon landings were faked lol, however the Saturn Focket van Braun designed was a great achievement and the astronauts still flew into space so amazing achievement for bak then but just low earth orbit fir them though.
Funny, and there are no petrol shortages, amuck buying was a problem, and driver shortage, but we have the petrol.
I wonder if the experience of the USMC pilots operating fron QNLZ will affect the US attitude towards ski-jumps?
Probably no different than the inter operability of the Harriers I guess.
wouldn’t we all love to read the report on RN v USN/USM methods … ?
I think they would prefer the extra helicopter spot instead. And They have supercarriers afterall.
Ski- jump allows a greater takeoff weight than the ‘flat decks’
Anyway with a STO takeoff area, you cant park anything there at all.
Such a fascinating and informative article, It shows just how well the RN can operate with so many partners Globally and with such a powerful message, now lets Grow from there.
“Planned participation by RAF Typhoons and a Voyager tanker was cancelled due to the complexities of COVID restrictions at airbases in Asia.”
The carrier proves its value once again. Deploy to 70% of the world, no permission required.
Great pics. Would be great if we had f35s capable of buddy to buddy refuelling giving our carriers even better capabilitys. Wonder if the USMC will have this capabilty on f35b in future.