As HMS Ark Royal, the flagship aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy prepares to leave Portsmouth on the next tide, her crew is schooled in Procedure ‘Alpha’ to make sure her exit is faultless. She’s about to embark on a five month mission to lead an international task force across the Atlantic in the largest-ever peacetime naval deployment for a decade. Once at sea her aircraft arrive. Three types of helicopters, The Lynx, Sea King and Merlin as well as the Naval Strike Wing of Harrier jets land aboard her flight deck.

Just as the jets start their night landing training, the volcanic eruption in Iceland causes havoc across Europe and all flying is suspended. At one point Ark Royal is the only operational airstrip ‘in the UK’.

There is a direct order from the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Operation Cunningham is launched to rescue stranded Britons from European ports. Ark is diverted from the deployment code-named Auriga and her crew has just one day to convert an aircraft carrier into a liner for 2000 passengers.