"During a pause in the exercise's high tempo activities, there was a chance for HMS Queen Elizabeth to join the carrier strike group for a brief period as she continues her own contractor sea trials ahead of her much-anticipated first entry into her new home port in Portsmouth," the release stated.
More than 60 Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel are on the George H.W. Bush carrier during the Saxon Warrior exercises.
"The US Navy, out of huge generosity, has given us the whole of their carrier strike group so that we can practice the command and control of a carrier doing these operations in British waters so that when HMS Queen Elizabeth comes into service later this year we will be well on the way to forming our own carrier strike capability," UK Carrier Strike Group chief of staff Capt. Ken Houlberg said.
The ships participating in the exercises include the HMS Westminster and HMS Iron Duke, US destroyer Donald Cook, missile cruiser Philippine Sea and the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad, the release said.
Exercise Saxon Warrior 2017 is taking place from August 1-10 and includes about 6,000 US sailors, along with service members from Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
