19 (Portsmouth, UNITED KINGDOM) -- 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. Her Majesty the Queen visited her namesake vessel – which she commissioned in 2017 – this morning before the aircraft carrier sets sail from Portsmouth, meeting crew members and wishing them luck in what will be an unforgettable life experience by being part of naval history. Among those to meet Her Majesty the Queen was Colonel Simon Doran USMC.