Britain's Prince of Wales aircraft carrier made its Japan debut on Tuesday, arriving at the Yokosuka Naval Base just days after some of its embarked F-35B fighter aircraft touched down and took off from the deck of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga carrier as part of “cross-decking” training activities.
The 280-meter warship, which is in the final leg of a monthslong Indo-Pacific deployment at the helm of a multinational carrier strike group, docked at the base in Kanagawa Prefecture alongside British destroyer Dauntless and Norwegian frigate Roald Amundsen.
The move marks not only the second time since the late 1990s that a British aircraft carrier has docked in Japan — after the HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021 — but also the latest in a series of incremental steps between Japan and European partners to deepen military ties amid concerns over Chinese assertiveness in the region.
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