British aircraft carrier withdrawn from NATO exercise due to propeller issue

LONDON - One of Britain's two state-of-the-art aircraft carriers will not take part in the largest NATO exercise in Europe since the Cold War after last-minute checks found a problem with its propeller, the Royal Navy has said.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, due to sail on Sunday (Feb 4) for Exercise Steadfast Defender, will be replaced by its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales. The two vessels are designated as The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and form the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group.

The Royal Navy said on X that an issue with "a coupling on starboard propeller shaft" on HMS Queen Elizabeth was found in routine pre-sailing checks, and HMS Prince of Wales would set sail "as soon as possible."

The last-minute change of plan was "highly embarrassing" and would "compound concerns over limitations to the Royal Navy's capabilities," said British newspaper The Financial Times.

The problem on HMS Queen Elizabeth came less than two years after HMS Prince of Wales was sidelined from training exercises with the United States and Canada off North America due to propeller issue.