Dispatches from Operation HIGHMAST No. 2 – Phase One: The Mediterranean

We are in our rhythm now, our battle rhythm. As practiced throughout 2024 and in Ex VIRTUAL WARRIOR, the Strike Group’s ways of working are a groove into which all that Phase Zero pre-deployment now slots. The long-planned ‘Carrier Strike Group 25’ has become ‘Operation HIGHMAST’. After an Easter weekend saying goodbye to loved ones, we sailed from home ports on 22 April for aggregation in the English Channel. The rest of April was a busy time in the South Coast Exercise Areas as ships and air squadrons from the Royal Navy, Norway, Spain, Canada and Portugal formed up as a complete Task Group…