ALMOST a year after it broke down the HMS Prince of Wales has left Rosyth after undergoing repairs and upgrades.
The £3 billion aircraft carrier suffered a broken propeller shaft after it sailed from Portsmouth in August 2022 for a diplomatic mission to the United States.
It's been in dry dock in Rosyth for nine months – there's still a dispute about the £25 million repair bill – and moved into the Forth on Friday before passing under the bridges for the journey to its home port on Tuesday.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: "The carrier will then build on her previous successes including acting as Nato's command ship and leading the Maritime High Readiness Force in the Arctic, before she takes over from HMS Queen Elizabeth as the nation's flagship towards the end of 2024."
It had been thought the carrier would be ship-shape by the Spring but there were further delays.
The warship has spent more time being fixed than she has at sea and after coming to a halt near the Isle of Wight, and being towed back to harbour, she retreated north to Rosyth in October of last year with "significant damage" to the starboard propeller shaft.
It then transpired that the port side shaft had "similar issues".
Fears were raised in April that the 65,000 tonne vessel was being "cannibalised" for parts to be used on sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth but Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said this was "perfectly normal" and the ship would return to service by the autumn.
The ship's commanding officer, Captain Richard Hewitt, said: "We are returning HMS Prince of Wales to operations as the most advanced warship ever built for the Royal Navy.
"This year, we will be operating F-35s, V-22 Ospreys, drones and the RN Merlin helicopters – pushing the boundaries of naval aviation and UK carrier strike capability as we progress towards a global deployment in 2025.
"Our sailors are paramount to ensuring our return to operations. They have approached the task of getting us back to sea with the remarkable ethos that I have come to expect from them. They are a credit to the ship and the Royal Navy."
The navy spokesman said that the ship's engineering departments had worked with civilian engineers from Babcock to fix the propeller shafts, along with BAE Systems which has also been carrying out previously-planned upgrade works.
He added that the 750-strong crew have undergone training and supported recruitment drives as well as taking part in civic events during the period of the repairs.
The spokesman added: "Once the ship has completed her propulsion trials, she will bring her flight deck back to life before returning to Portsmouth to prepare for her autumn deployment to the USA."
Prior to the latest repairs and upgrades, the HMS Prince of Wales had spent 267 days at sea and more than 400 days in dock.
Earlier this year MPs on the Defence Select Committee asked Royal Navy chiefs if it was "an unlucky ship" and why it keeps breaking down, adding that the UK cannot afford to have an aircraft carrier "with a limp".
In April Baroness Goldie said the estimated cost of the repairs was £25m but that "responsibility for payment has not yet been established".
Built in Rosyth, HMS Prince of Wales was commissioned into the Royal Navy in December 2019.
Between October 2020 and April 2021, the ship was alongside for 193 days undergoing repairs to damage caused by floodwater.
In August 2022, after leaving its home port of Portsmouth for the USA, it suffered a “shaft coupling failure” which required “a complex repair”.
HMS Prince of Wales arrived in Rosyth for dry dock repairs on October 10 last year.
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