Navy gets carrier out to sea, finally

THE shambles of the Royal Navy's largest aircraft carrier's delay in joining a major Nato exercise finally ended yesterday.

- Michael Knowles

HMS Prince of Wales sailed from Portsmouth after a 24-hour delay in replacing HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was unable to leave port on Sunday after an "issue" was found in final checks with the starboard propeller coupling.

Her replacement will lead a carrier strike group of eight ships, four of them British, supported by US, Spanish and Danish vessels in the largest Nato exercise for 40 years.

Deterrence