Britain's flagship aircraft carrier needs protection from 'frightening Russian threat', its captain warns

Britain's new aircraft carrier needs protection from the 'frightening Russian threat' as it crosses the Atlantic for sea trials, the captain has said.

Speaking ahead of the deployment to New York and the east coast of America, Commodore Andrew Betton, commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, said that the carrier would have protection from other Royal Navy warships in the task group.

And he said that the beleaguered Type 45 air defence destroyers, beset with propulsion issues which require an engine refit, will be repaired and ready to support the Queen Elizabeth by the time it embarks on its first operational deployment in 2021.

Cdre Betton said: "We need to protect the ship from any threats that may be out there, it is the Atlantic, it is broadly home waters, but we do need to maintain our readiness clearly."

When asked if there was any concern about a Russian submarine tailing the Queen Elizabeth and what protection was to be provided, Cdre Betton said: "Russian submarines are more active in the North Atlantic than they have been since the Cold War and we take that very seriously, the ship will be well protected as she makes the transit across the Atlantic”.

"We will seek to operate professionally and within the standard laws of the high seas, operating in international waters, going about our business, we are not seeking confrontation, we are heading to the east coast of the United States to conduct trials."

Cdre Betton would not be drawn on whether a Royal Navy submarine would be deployed to protect the task group heading to the USA to carry out flight trials with the F-35B fighter jet.

Captain Jerry Kyd, the carrier's commanding officer, said: "The increase in Russian activity we have seen in the last couple of years is frightening and for national security reasons it just underlines why we need to maintain a balanced strong and capable fleet”.

"It's been quite eye-watering what we have seen in recent years."

Defending the Type-45 destroyers, Cdre Betton added: "They have had propulsion and power generation issues but those have now been sufficiently understood that the get-well package will enable the platform to reach its full potential in the long term”.

"I am confident we will have a resilient a destroyer force to protect the maritime task group wherever it needs to go."

Capt Kyd added: "The poor old Type-45s get a hard time but genuinely they are the best defence destroyers in the world."

Cdre Betton explained that the Royal Navy was used to working with other navies to ensure mutual protection in high threat areas around the world.

He said: "If you are going to the highest threat environments at range you are likely to wish to share the burden with international partners and be part of a coalition effort”.

"There are choices there, the Royal Navy has sufficient assets to provide sufficient robust protection should it choose to, it depends how long you need to keep doing it."

He added: "We don't talk about exclusion zones that we can't go into because of missile threats, we operate in a different way and protect ourselves appropriately for the part time we are under that threat envelope”.

"So yes we are concerned, but confident we are developing the right sorts of capabilities to operate freely across the high seas."

HMS Queen Elizabeth weighs 65,000 tonnes and has a top speed of 25 knots, its flight deck is 919ft (280m) long and 230ft (70m) wide - enough space for three football pitches

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “Whilst we do not comment on specific force protection measures, we have the largest navy in Europe and our cutting-edge carrier can be supported by a host of world class capabilities, including our anti-submarine warships and helicopters, and our fleet of attack submarines - the most powerful in our history.”