The head of the Royal Navy and the Defence Secretary are holding talks in the US as Britain prepares to deploy its aircraft carrier to the Red Sea.

It is understood that Admiral Sir Ben Key, the First Sea Lord, is providing “expert military advice” to Grant Shapps as they attend separate meetings to discuss the UK’s strategy in the Red Sea. 

A Navy source said the meetings are “likely [to] include a discussion on the carrier”.

Mr Shapps is expected to meet senior Biden administration officials in Washington DC. A Downing Street spokesman said the meetings would include discussions on “the situation in the Middle East and our wider defence cooperation”.

It comes after The Telegraph revealed that Britain is poised to send one of its aircraft carriers to the region to counter drone and missile strikes by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

HMS Queen Elizabeth would operate with both American and British fighter jets if she is called upon to travel to the region.

The warship, previously involved in a combat role as part of Operation Shader to fight Islamic State in 2021, is being prepared to deploy on Sunday as part of Operation Steadfast Defender.

The exercise is explicitly designed to prepare the alliance for a Russian invasion, with Britain having committed around 20,000 soldiers, as well as tanks, artillery and fighter jets to the drills.

However The Telegraph understands that HMS Queen Elizabeth could be diverted and sent to the Red Sea if requested.

The Navy is preparing to step in when USS Dwight D Eisenhower returns to America. The carrier deployed from Norfolk, Virginia in October and is expected to go back to the US in May.

She had originally been intended to deploy in Europe, but was re-routed to the Middle East in response to the outbreak of war in Gaza, then deployed to the Red Sea following the Houthi attacks.

Under the US Navy’s Optimised Fleet Response Plan, which governs the tasking of American ships, the carrier is designed to deploy for seven months, with a 32-month break between deployments.

Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, a fellow at the RUSI think thank, said: “I don’t think there is any country where we have greater interop than the US and the UK, and that starts with intelligence sharing.

“I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the alliance that the UK is stepping up in this way to help the US and the west to keep this maritime stretch open.”

It comes after weeks of calls for the UK to deploy one of its carriers.

Lord West, a former First Sea Lord, said it was “extraordinary” that the carrier had not been sent to the region, and subsequently accused the RAF of not having given  “sufficient priority” to providing F35 aircraft, adding that the force considers the fighter jets to be employed for “shore-based use”.

RAF sources said the carrier would be deployed as and when needed. They said the number of F35s, of which the UK has 33, was nothing to do with the fact the carrier is still in port at Portsmouth.