Carrier Strike Group Sets Sail on 7-month Maiden Deployment Britain' s new flagship aircraft carrier will lead the largest concentration of maritime and air power to be deployed from the UK in a generation. Nine ships, 32 aircraft, and 3,700 personnel will set sail today on the UK Carrier Strike Group’s maiden operational deployment. The seven-month global deployment will extend through the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean and on to the Indo-Pacific, interacting with more than one fifth of the world’s nations. Britain’s new flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will lead six Royal Navy ships, a Royal Navy submarine, a US Navy destroyer and a frigate from the Netherlands in the largest concentration of maritime and air power to leave the UK in a generation.