While I was tracking HMS Prince of Wales as she came around the Isle of Wight inbound to Portsmouth, it wasn’t long before we got our first sight of her. I know there is a dredged channel that was created when the ships were acquired and I assume that this is a function of the route they take when coming in but she was first seen as we looked out through the entrance to the harbour as she crossed from right to left heading towards land. Then she disappeared behind the coast for a while.

A bit later, the silhouette of the ship reappeared now heading back away from the land as she tracked to follow the coastline towards the harbour. She was still a long way away, but the distinctive shape of the ski jump and the twin islands made her easy to confirm. Then she was hidden again as she disappeared from view where we were, behind some of the old buildings of HMS Dolphin.

By now the helicopters had joined up to fly over her so they were our clue as to where she was. Then a mast appeared above the buildings followed by a radar and the next thing you knew, a tug was coming into the harbour to be shortly followed by 80,000 tons of ship. She is certainly big enough and looked it as she came fully into view. The thing that struck me was not so much the beam of the ship but the length. With tugs holding her both ahead and astern, she drifted past us taking quite some time to do so given the 284m of her that there is.

It wasn’t far to go to get to her berth and she was soon stationary in the water while the tugs repositioned to push her alongside. The crowds started to disperse, the boats that had been waiting for her to arrive before they could move started on their way and the families headed for the Gosport ferry so that they could go on base and greet their loved ones that had been away since April. Quite something to experience.