HMS Queen Elizabeth Returns to Sea After Major Refit

Military Sentinel, Portsmouth — The Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) has put back to sea for a three-month deployment around the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, marking her return to operational service after the longest maintenance period of her career.

Background: A 22-Month Overhaul

Queen Elizabeth’s multi-phase maintenance and overhaul program began in late 2024 and included an eight-month stretch in dry dock at Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard in Scotland her first major refit since commissioning in 2017. Work focused primarily on propulsion system upgrades, alongside other engineering projects.

Separate reporting indicates the carrier had also undergone an earlier, unscheduled repair period tied to a propeller shaft coupling issue identified in 2024, ahead of this broader refit the two repair periods are sometimes conflated in press coverage, so readers should treat carrier maintenance timelines from this era with some caution pending an official consolidated Royal Navy account.

NATO Command Role

In July 2026, Queen Elizabeth assumed the role of command ship for NATO’s Allied Response Force (Maritime) the first time a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier has held this role, according to the Royal Navy. The NATO flag was raised aboard the ship to mark the handover.

“Sailing this autumn is a key milestone for both our NATO commitment, as the Afloat Command Platform, and also on our journey back to the Royal Navy’s ‘very high readiness’ aircraft carrier a duty we will resume from our sister ship HMS Prince of Wales in 2027,” said Capt. Claire Thompson, commanding officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, in a Royal Navy statement.

What Happens Next

The carrier will now undergo an intensive training and operational program under the Royal Navy’s Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) organization, exercising across the full spectrum of modern naval warfare. The training will continue into 2027 and include participation in major NATO exercises, after which Queen Elizabeth is expected to formally take over as the UK’s high-readiness flagship carrier from HMS Prince of Wales in late 2027.

Meanwhile, HMS Prince of Wales is set to deploy later this year for the second phase of Operation Firecrest, a deployment to the Atlantic, the High North, and Northern Europe.

Strategic Implications

Queen Elizabeth’s return restores a second operational carrier to the Royal Navy’s order of battle at a time when the fleet has faced sustained scrutiny over availability and maintenance backlogs. Her NATO command-ship role also signals a deeper integration of British carrier strike capability into alliance command structures, ahead of a planned flagship handover that will keep at least one Queen Elizabeth-class carrier continuously available for high-readiness tasking through the remainder of the decade.