Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales arrives in Liverpool for week-long visit ahead of UK Carrier Strike Group mission to the Suez Canal. Tony McDonough reports

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales arrives and is now berthed at Liverpool Cruise Terminal where she will welcome thousands of visitors over the next few days.

Arriving in the Mersey on Sunday, a day ahead of the original schedule, the huge vessel has just taken over from her sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, as the UK’s new flagship and will lead a UK Carrier Strike Group mission to the Suez Canal early in 2025.

Liverpool is one of the few non-Royal Naval ports which can accommodate the aircraft carrier’s 65,000 gross tonnes bulk, 284m (932ft) length, 11m (36ft) draft and flight-deck (the size of three football pitches) with its huge 17m (55ft) overhang either side of the hull.

HMS Prince of Wales, Britain’s biggest aircraft carrier, will be in port for a week. This will allow her 800-strong crew to engage with local schools, community projects and civic leaders. She will also receive the Freedom of the City while here.

Next Saturday and Sunday she will welcome on board more than 20,000 members of the public who have booked tickets. All places are now sold out. The ship was last here in March 2020.

It will also be, in part, a home-coming for the carrier as her flight deck, hangar and sections of accommodation were built at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, directly across the river from her berth at the cruise terminal.

The two Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will regularly rotate the flagship title between them, with one ready to deploy at short notice for priority tasking and the other in routine maintenance.

HMS Prince of Wales becomes the flagship for the first time in her five-year Royal Navy career as she limbers up for the upcoming UK Carrier Strike Group 2025 operation, which will take the carrier and her task force east of the Suez Canal on a global mission. 

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There is no formal ceremony to mark the changing of responsibilities, but the two carriers did briefly meet up recently as they sailed in waters close to the UK and HMS Prince of Wales will officially be flagship during her stay in Liverpool.

Commanding Officer Captain Will Blackett, said: “This is a proud moment for HMS Prince of Wales. “We’ve been training hard, ably assisted by our sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth. We’re ready, we’re excited, and look forward to taking the next step in the ship’s life.”