CSG21: New Zealand Navy Exercises With Strike Group

The UK's Carrier Strike Group (CSG21), spearheaded by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, has conducted exercises with units from the Royal New Zealand Navy (NZDF).

The international defence exercise in South East Asia is "developing interoperability and mutual understanding", the Commander of the Strike Group said.

The Royal Navy's Commodore Steve Moorhouse welcomed the New Zealand vessels and posted a video of the replenishment tanker HMNZS Aotearoa operating with HMS Queen Elizabeth.

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The UK-led Carrier Strike Group is on a 28-week deployment, covering 26,000 nautical miles including passages through the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, from the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean to the Philippine Sea.

HMS Queen Elizabeth and the CSG21 recently departed Guam after successful maintenance and time ashore. 

In a tweet from its official account on Tuesday morning, Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender posted a video of the ship leaving Guam, saying "productive couple of weeks in Guam but it’s great to be back at sea".