The Royal Navy's main aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has suffered a mechanical failure that forced it to dock unexpectedly in Norway.

英國皇家海軍的主力航空母艦「威爾斯親王號」發生機械故障，迫使其在挪威緊急入塢。

The HMS Prince of Wales, which costs around £3.5 billion, experienced a technical problem while operating in the High North and Atlantic regions with NATO. Although the Ministry of Defence described the incident as a 'minor technical issue,' reports suggest that the propeller shaft has failed again. Consequently, the ship cannot take part in the 250th anniversary celebrations of the US Declaration of Independence. These repeated problems have lowered crew morale and led to criticism from US officials regarding the quality of British naval ships.

造價約 35 億英鎊的威爾斯親王號，在與北約於極北及大西洋地區執行任務時發生技術問題。雖然國防部將此事件描述為「輕微技術問題」，但報導指出螺旋槳軸再次故障。因此，該艦無法參加美國獨立宣言 250 週年慶典。這些重複發生的問題降低了船員士氣，並引發美國官員對英國軍艦品質的批評。

This ship has a history of reliability problems. For example, a major propeller shaft failure in 2022 required nine months of repairs, and two flooding incidents occurred in 2020 due to broken pipes. The total cost of maintaining these carriers has now passed £1 billion. Furthermore, the Royal Navy decided to handle maintenance itself instead of using the manufacturers, which means the taxpayer is now paying for these frequent failures.

該艦一直有可靠性問題。例如 2022 年一次嚴重的螺旋槳軸故障導致維修期長達九個月，而 2020 年則因水管破損發生兩起浸水事故。維護這些航空母艦的總成本現已超過 10 億英鎊。此外，皇家海軍決定自行處理維修而非委託製造商，這意味著納稅人現在正為這些頻繁的故障買單。

These technical issues are happening during a wider strategic crisis. Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, emphasized that the current global situation is the most dangerous in his 35-year career, mainly because of Russian aggression. However, there is a clear gap between the UK's goal to be a global power and its actual military strength. This is made worse by a £28 billion funding shortage and a decrease in the number of active warships. While the government promised to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the official Investment Plan continues to be delayed.

這些技術問題發生在更廣泛的戰略危機之中。國防參謀長 Sir Richard Knighton 強調，目前的全球局勢是他 35 年職業生涯中最危險的，主因是俄羅斯的侵略。然而，英國成為全球強國的目標與其實際軍事力量之間存在明顯差距。280 億英鎊的資金短缺以及活躍軍艦數量的減少，使情況更加惡化。儘管政府承諾到 2027 年將國防開支提高至 GDP 的 2.5%，但官方投資計劃仍持續延期。

The HMS Prince of Wales is currently in Stavanger, Norway, for repairs and is expected to leave in the next few days.

威爾斯親王號目前在挪威的斯塔萬格進行維修，預計將於未來幾天內離開。