UK carrier roadmap plots route to 2021 deployment
With the formal commissioning into service of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales the UK Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers in its fleet for the first time in nearly nine years, representing another crucial landmark in the return to big-deck operations.
Poignantly, the commissioning of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales on 10 December took place 78 years to the day of the sinking of the King George V-class battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the last vessel to carry the name, during operations against the Japanese in the South China Sea during WWII.
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