£3bn HMS Prince of Wales’ departure cancelled at the last minute

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales moored in Portsmouth Harbour after its scheduled sailing was called off at the last minute Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The Royal Navy carrier HMS Prince of Wales has seen its departure cancelled at the last minute after it was due to replace its sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, on the largest Nato training exercise since the Cold War.

A propeller shaft issue discovered by “routine pre-sailing checks” forced the Queen Elizabeth to abandon its planned departure last week, with the Prince of Wales drafted in to take its place and due to set sail from Portsmouth Naval Base around midday on Sunday.

But despite Ministry of Defence (MoD) police boats securing the area and closing the harbour mouth to traffic, as is regular protocol for the departure of a carrier, the channel was re-opened and the £3bn vessel failed to leave the jetty.

It remains unclear if the sailing was cancelled before the carrier was set to leave or whether it had made its first movements from the jetty, and the MoD has been approached for clarification on the warship’s departure plans.

After about 20 minutes, the hundreds of people lining the walls of Portsmouth Harbour began to disperse as word spread that the 65,000-tonne warship wasn’t leaving after all, with one member of the public reported by the PA news agency as saying: “I hope it hasn’t broken down again.”

Sunday’s setback comes 18 months after HMS Prince of Wales broke down off the Isle of Wight, when it suffered a malfunction with a coupling on its starboard propeller, and just a week after the Queen Elizabeth was found to have a separate issue with its own starboard propeller.

Admiral Lord Alan West, the former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, told i he was unsure as to why the latest delay had happened.

Speaking to i on Saturday, when the Prince of Wales was still scheduled to set sail as planned, Lord West described the issue discovered aboard the Queen Elizabeth as “embarrassing”.

“I think it’s fair to say that it is uncomfortable and embarrassing that something has gone wrong again, but these things happen,” he said.

Lord West explained that corrosion had been found on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s starboard propeller coupling – an issue which he estimated could take the vessel out of action for two and a half months.

He added: “It’s not rust because this is tensile steel underwater, so it couldn’t rust, but [it is] some form of corrosion.

“It’s a nuisance, but what it proves is how important it is to have two aircraft carriers, because the Prince of Wales is just sliding smoothly into the task that the Queen Elizabeth was going to do.”

But with the Prince of Wales suffering its as yet unexplained cancelled departure on Sunday, it is unclear whether the Royal Navy will in fact take part in scheduled Nato exercise, involving around 40 vessels and due to take place off Norway’s Arctic coast in March.

It also raises further questions about the Royal Navy’s ability to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Red Sea amid the continuing threat posed by the Houthi rebels, which armed forces minister James Heappey had suggested – prior to HMS Queen Elizabeth – was being considered.

Addressing the cancelled departure of HMS Queen Elizabeth last week, Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Andrew Burns said: “Routine pre-sailing checks identified an issue with a coupling on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s starboard propeller shaft. As such, the ship will not sail on Sunday [4 February].

“HMS Prince of Wales will take her place on Nato duties and will set sail for Exercise Steadfast Defender as soon as possible.”

A Royal Navy spokesman previously said: “The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is due to sail from Portsmouth to take the place of HMS Queen Elizabeth to join the Nato Exercise Steadfast Defender.

“As ever, sailing will be subject to suitable tide and weather conditions.”