The British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is on its way south through the Red Sea. The carrier strike group was said to be accompanied by two US destroyers, possibly to keep the Houthis from shooting at the ships in the Red Sea.
The presence with the CSG of a US Navy presence is politically useful, as the Houthis are in an agreed ceasefire with the United States, and the Houthis are unlikely to be able to identify individual units of the CSG.
https://maritime-executive.com/article/royal-navy-carrier-heads-east-of-suez
The Daily Mail was already covering the story last week. They say a rescue mission has been authorized in advance by Downing Street in case a fighter pilot is shot down by “Iran’s allies”.
The Royal Navy is braced for one of its flagship aircraft carriers to be attacked as it travels near territory run by Iran’s allies in Yemen.
Plans have been drawn up for F-35 fighter jets to launch strikes against Houthi camps should HMS Prince of Wales come under a bombardment as it passes through a choke point in the Red Sea.
Downing Street has also given the elite Special Boat Service and Royal Marines permission to launch a rescue mission if any fighter pilot is shot down, according to Whitehall sources.
HMS Prince of Wales will shortly pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, on its way to a deployment in the Pacific.
It is understood to have 18 F-35 planes on board.
The HMS Prince of Wales does not have a catapult, but it has a ski-jump ramp. Wikipedia sez “the UK only required one aircraft carrier, however penalty clauses in the contract meant that cancelling Prince of Wales would be more expensive than building her.”
