PREVIEW

British service personnel have been 'sailing home' for Christmas after an eight-month deployment on the other side of the world.

Britain’s premier naval deployment of 2025 ends this weekend as the ships, jets and helicopters of the UK Carrier Strike Group returns home.

Families and well-wishers are expected to gather at air and naval bases from the Lizard Peninsula to Norfolk to greet more than 2,000 military personnel – sailors, soldiers, aviators, Royal Marines, and civilians – back from their eight-month mission to the Indo-Pacific.

The Strike Group has been led by the nation’s flagship HMS Prince of Wales, which sails into Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon accompanied by two of her escorts: destroyer HMS Dauntless and Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen.

A third escort, frigate HMS Richmond, is returning to Plymouth, while the force’s aircraft have already flown – or are flying – home to their respective air bases: F-35B Lightning stealth fighters to RAF Marham in Norfolk, Merlin helicopters to RNAS Culdrose near Helston and RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, and Wildcat helicopters to Yeovilton as well.

Tanker RFA Tideforce, which supported the final month of the deployment, is returning to Portland, while her sister ship RFA Tidespring, which provided fuel for the force through three-quarters of the Highmast mission, remains deployed. In addition, Norway’s HNoMS Maud performed tanker duties during the opening weeks.

The arrivals bring to an end the UK Carrier Strike Group’s 2025 mission, codenamed Operation Highmast, which took the force as far east as Japan and Australia.