The delayed departure of HMS Dragon from Portsmouth Harbour to the eastern Mediterranean came amidst wider criticism of Britain’s lethargy toward bolstering support for allies in a war with Iran.
11 days after the commencement of the Iran war, the 1st British warship was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, which set sail on Tuesday, 10 March, from Portsmouth.
The UK Ministry of Defence said that the Royal Navy has completed 6 weeks’ worth of work in a mere 6 days to prepare HMS Dragon. It’s a Type 45 destroyer, being prepared for deployment, which includes resupplying its air defence missiles.
Delays in advance of the warship’s departure had prompted intense scrutiny of the availability of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet. This was amidst wider criticism of the UK’s slowness in bolstering defensive military support for allies in the Middle East.
A former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord Alan West, told the FT that there had been a lack of direction in the MoD’ in recent months. He was critical of the ‘bizarre’ decision to remove warships from the region in recent months rather than reinforce the Royal Navy’s presence.
An ageing Type 23 frigate returned from Bahrain last December 25 and was withdrawn from service. Besides this, an ageing Royal Navy minehunter in the Gulf was returned to the UK, mounted on a heavy-lift vessel during this month.
West, who’s a Labour peer and former security minister, believed that ‘the UK seems to lack that ability to make the correct grand strategic decisions concerning its maritime domain…quite embarrassing for the UK.’
In the meantime, he added that the French were responding to this with much vigour. He was referring to France’s pledge to dispatch a fleet of extra warships that consisted of 10 frigates and two amphibious assault ships to be positioned in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. They are to join its flagship aircraft carrier, already positioned in the region.
