As of: February 7, 2024, 4:57 a.m
By: Stefan Krieger
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The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth” was actually supposed to be on its way to a major NATO exercise.
Nothing will come of it.
London - It is the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War: Around 90,000 soldiers are expected to take part in the large-scale maneuver called “Steadfast Defender” until the end of May.
The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth” cannot be part of the exercise due to a technical problem.
HMS Queen Elizabeth: exit stopped at the last minute
The departure was stopped at the last minute, the Royal Navy announced on Sunday (February 4).
“During routine pre-departure checks yesterday, a problem was identified with a clutch on the starboard propeller shaft of HMS Queen Elizabeth,” Vice Admiral Andrew Burns said, according to the British
news agency PA
.
“Therefore the ship will not leave on Sunday.”
Royal Navy deploys sister ship
The Navy announced on Friday that the “Queen Elizabeth” would leave on Sunday.
Instead, the sister ship “HMS Prince of Wales” is now scheduled to take part in the maneuver.
The two aircraft carriers were put into service just a few years ago.
So now there is already the second major failure: a year and a half ago, the “Prince of Wales” had to stop its journey from Great Britain to joint exercises with the US and Canadian navies due to damage to the propeller shaft after a few miles near the Isle of Wight break off before southern England.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in London said there was no connection between the problems.
The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth”.
© Terje Pedersen/dpa
According to information from the German Press Agency,
the scenario for the “Steadfast Defender” maneuver is
a Russian attack on Allied territory, which leads to the declaration of the so-called alliance case according to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.
The latter regulates the obligation to provide assistance in the alliance and states that an armed attack against one or more allies is viewed as an attack against all.
(skr/dpa)