USS Theodore Roosevelt on Its Way to Portsmouth

More than 5,000 American sailors are heading for Portsmouth on board the giant aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The 100,000-tonne ship and her escort – the destroyer Winston S Churchill – will arrive on Sunday for a five-day visit.

Portsmouth is the first port of call on the ships’ round-the-world deployment.

The visit forms part of an ongoing partnership between the US and UK on carrier operations in the run-up to the Royal Navy’s two new 65,000-tonne ships – HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales – entering service.

Senior officers on board both ships will call on Royal Navy top brass during the visit to discuss recent global operations and get an update on the UK’s carrier programme.

The two navies will also come face-to-face on the football field when a Theodore Roosevelt team face HMS Diamond at HMS Temeraire.

USS Theodore Roosevelt will anchor off Stokes Bay near Gosport on Sunday at 5pm and the USS Winston S Churchill arrives at Portsmouth Naval Base at approximately 1.30pm. Both will leave Portsmouth on March 27.

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