Quod Erat Demonstrandum - the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War has included a carrier group protecting amphibious forces.
820 NAS have been good enough to remind everyone that they provide ASW (in conjunction with frigates, submarines, and MPA), and air defence (obviously in conjunction with the F-35B Lightning and AAW destroyers) for the
entire task group, not just the carrier as the media fools seem to insist:
The Carrier Strike Group seems to have been right up North, in a fjord:
Of course the incoming aircraft over Norwegian territory might also be taking a direct route to attack the forces in the fjords.
Here is a NATO video dated 5 March 2024:
HMS
Prince of Wales can be seen from 2:15:
In the North Sea Exercise Joint Warrior
has been taking place. The exercises involved 14 countries with nearly 50 vessels. This includes aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, patrol vessels, minehunters, submarines, and auxiliary ships. There were 100 fast jets, 30 helicopters, and various surveillance, patrol, and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. Their mission? Within the Steadfast Defender
exercise scenario, they had to dominate the seas and the skies in the high north so that amphibious landings could be executed.
NATO task groups come together off Norway coast - Royal Navy - 14 March 24
Two potent task groups proved their strength to defend Arctic waters and shorelines from threats when they came together as part of NATO exercises.
The UK Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales,
was joined by a NATO Amphibious Task Group and a range of aircraft off the coast of Norway as part of Exercise Nordic Response.
The formation of more than 10 ships from eight nations gave the men and women on board the chance to practise close manoeuvres - overcoming language barriers and different ways of operating at sea.
In a show of might for NATO and it partners, the exercise allowed the vessels and their aircraft to demonstrate their ability to defend allied territory while simultaneously defending themselves from potential enemies.
Taking part were: Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales,
frigate HMS Portland,
Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Tidespring
and amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay;
Spanish frigate ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbon;
German replenishment ship FGS Bonn;
Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup,
corvette HNoMS Gnist,
patrol vessels HNoMS Olav Tyrggvason
and HNoMS Magnus Lagabote;
Norwegian coast guard ship KV Bjornoya;
Dutch support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman;
Italian aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi;
French frigate FS Normadie;
and US destroyer USS Paul Ignatius.
Karel Doorman and
Giuseppe Garibaldi were acting as part of the amphibious group, supporting marines and operating support helicopters.
The carrier group was acting in the defence of the amphibious group.
As noted elsewhere on a thread dedicated to the topic of the carrier and sea control:
A. Sea Control (ASW, air defence/AAW, and anti surface warfare) is a major mission for the carrier and the carrier group. It was during the Second World War and the Cold War, and it is again now in a renewed era of peer adversaries and contested seas.
B. Sea Control is difficult to achieve without carrier aviation. Geography, Mathematics, and Physics show that attacking aircraft are best dealt with using fighters to kill the archers, not the arrows, and that the best chance of stopping anti ship missiles is to engage the launch platform. Similarly constant helicopter ASW operations are best supported by a big deck with multiple helicopters, and Physics shows that modern long range sonars need to work in conjunction with dipping sonar to achieve their potential - and vice versa.