Days at Sea Cost Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales 328 Days in Dock. Failed Coupling on Her Starboard Propeller Shaft Was the Problem

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales returned to service after an August 2022 incident that left her disabled two days out of Portsmouth. The failure traced to a coupling on the starboard propeller shaft: the parts were misaligned during construction and certified in 2019 without restriction, then failed off the Isle of Wight. The damaged 33-ton propeller forced cancellation of WESTLANT 22 F-35B trials. Repairs cost about £25 million and kept the ship in dry dock at Rosyth until July 21, 2023. A 2025 Indo-Pacific deployment covering about 40,000 nautical miles followed the overhaul, validating the fix. The investigation noted alignment issues on the port shaft as well.