Her Majesty’s Ship Queen Elizabeth and USS The Sullivans departed Portsmouth for the most important peacetime deployment in a generation.

The UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, has departed Portsmouth Naval Base on a seven-month maiden deployment on the 24th of May.

This Naval mission aims to protect the country and establish and strengthen peaceful relationships. Peacetime operation involves nine ships, 32 aircraft and 3,700 personnel.

The deployment will extend through the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and on to the Indo-Pacific.

The task group will visit 40 countries including India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore and they will go on a journey that will stretch 48,152 kilometres( 26,000 nautical miles).