CSG21: Task force departs on historic seven-month deployment

HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) and the multinational task force that makes up Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) have now departed the UK on the aircraft carrier’s maiden operational deployment, which will take the flotilla to Japan and back over the next seven months. The Royal Navy’s new flagship aircraft carrier departed Her Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth in Hampshire on May 22; following a royal visit by the Queen, who boarded the vessel to bid farewell to the ship’s company