HMS Prince of Wales, one of the UK’s two aircraft carriers, has now spent more time being repaired in docks than it has at sea.
The £3.2 billion carrier, the largest ship in the British fleet, has been languishing in a Scottish dockyard after it broke down off the Isle of Wight in August. A problem with the propeller shaft is merely the latest in a string of technical issues that have afflicted the 284m-long vessel since it was commissioned into the Navy three years ago.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, admitted the problems were “deeply frustrating” this month as he said the ship was “not as well as I would like it to be”. He said at the annual Rusi lecture: “These are massive capital projects where sometimes things will go wrong.”
The problems began in 2020. A leak in the ship’s engine room resulted in nearly a metre of water submerging electrical cabinets and pipes, just a few months after the roof of an accommodation block collapsed, sending water cascading onto sailors. That same year, more than 100 crew had to spend the night on their sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, after the Prince of Wales temporarily lost power.
Between October 2020 and April 2021, the ship spent 193 days having the floodwater damage repaired, at an estimated cost of £3.3 million.
The carrier was then able to sail to Gibraltar in 2021. However, a year later, the 65,000-tonne ship broke down again. In August the Prince of Wales was leaving Portsmouth for the US to take part in joint exercises when it ran into further difficulties. The carrier, which is supposed to be the Nato flagship, suffered a serious problem with its propeller shaft and has now returned to Rosyth for more repairs. It is not due to leave the dockyard until March.
Analysis of Ministry of Defence figures reveals that the carrier has now spent 267 days at sea since it was commissioned into the Navy in December 2019. Christmas Eve was the 268th day it has undergone repairs. HMS Queen Elizabeth has replaced HMS Prince of Wales on overseas deployments despite the carriers being supposed to alternate on eight-month tours.
Francis Tusa, a defence analyst, said: “A problem with the propeller shaft is not trivial. If there is no spare, it will take at least six months to make.” He added that the Queen Elizabeth would also wear out faster if the Royal Navy decided to use it continuously while its sister ship was being repaired.
A spokesman for Babcock, the company responsible for building the propeller shaft, said: “Work is ongoing to understand the cause of the issue and Babcock remains focused on completing the repair.”
Labour called on the government to be honest about when HMS Prince of Wales will return to the water. John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, said: “When threats are rising and the number of Navy ships are set to fall, we need our fleet at sea, not stuck in dock. HMS Prince of Wales is a Nato flagship and ministers cannot allow problems to undermine the ability of our armed forces to lead joint exercises.”
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “Repairs to HMS Prince of Wales’s starboard shaft are expected to be completed by spring. The ship will then return to Portsmouth for a pre-planned maintenance period.”
