‘We should have seen this coming’: Why a Royal Navy ship still hasn’t reached Cyprus after Iran strike
Britain was forced to reconsider its hands-off approach to the US war with Iran when a drone crashed into the Royal Air Force base in Cyprus on Sunday night.
In a TV speech recorded on Sunday evening, Sir Keir Starmer said he had agreed to a US request to use British military bases for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites, adding that “British lives” were being put at risk. On Tuesday, the government announced that a warship called HMS Dragon would be sent to the region.
However, the intended demonstration of sea power has not yet occurred; The battleship is still in Portsmouth and is expected to remain there until at least next week. It’s a delay that has left Defense Department officials “outraged” and exposed previous financially motivated decisions on personnel funding, including agreements with contractors not to work after hours.
Under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, which gave independence to Cyprus, the United Kingdom has a legal obligation to ensure the security of the island. But the Cypriot government said it was “disappointed” in Britain and had to seek help from France.
It is also thought to be the first time no Royal Navy ships have been deployed in the Gulf since 1980, after years of reducing the British presence in the region. Admiral Lord Alan West, who served as First Sea Lord between 2002 and 2006, previously described the decision to bring the last remaining ship home as a “terrible mistake”.
HMS Dragon is one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 Destroyers; three of these are in various stages of preparation, while the remaining three are under maintenance.
The ship, described by the Navy as “one of the most advanced warships in the world”, is equipped with the Sea Viper air defense missile system and has a crew of approximately 200 people.
It is currently being filled with new ammunition from maintenance. It is understood to have been in dry dock for refitting earlier this week.
Professor Kevin Rowlands, a former Royal Navy officer and Captain, now works for the defense think tank. Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said every ship has a declared “readiness” level that tells politicians how many days it will take to be ready to sail.
he said Independent To adhere to this level of readiness, the ship would have basic supplies on board “at all times” and the prime minister would be informed of the ship’s condition when the decision to deploy the ship was made.
“If we wanted something sooner or faster, there would be ways to do it,” he said.
He added that this situation, rather than being a problem of unpreparedness, shows how the UK’s strategic priorities have turned towards Russia and NATO in recent years.
“The UK has made some strategic choices through successive defense reviews,” he said. “Nato first. North Atlantic, high North. Our arch-enemy is Russia.”
“And if so, if those elections were held, that would mean less withdrawal of power in other regions, including the Middle East. Anytime you make a choice, it will be the wrong choice according to the law, but then you also have to accept the consequences that you may not be there right away.”
Other Navy voices said they believed a lack of funding led to unpreparedness for action. Rear Admiral Steve Prest, former director of procurement for the Royal Navy, told BFBS Forces News that the fight to maintain the Navy’s “full structure” was a “budget challenge”.
“With the fleet we had, particularly the aging Type 23s and to some extent the Type 45s, it was suffering from a lack of spare parts and maintenance,” he said.
“So getting them out in sufficient numbers and with adequate preparation has been a challenge.”
Independent He also understands ministers were forced to intervene after contractor Serco raised questions about service crew members working on HMS Dragon at the weekend.
Armed Forces Minister Al Carns is understood to have been forced to step in for a money-saving change to the service contract in 2025 that eliminates overtime, including weekend work, on board.
MoD sources told Independent The contract changes were driven by the department’s need to find annual savings of £2.6bn for this financial year.
Before the issue was resolved, an MoD source said: Independent: “People are getting angry here. It is not right for a contractor to try to manage under these conditions.”
On Thursday afternoon both the Royal Navy and Serco confirmed work was continuing. In their statements, both insisted that the contract provided for overtime when necessary, including weekend work.
But Prospect, a union representing UK defense workers, warned this week that the overtime ban was already slowing preparations.
Earlier this week, Mr Carns also admitted on Sky News that the warship had previously been prepared for a different purpose, so adjustments had to be made to its installation.
Some also questioned why Britain had not sent warships to the region before. Audience Sir Keir was first asked by the US about the use of UK bases to attack Iran on February 11, 17 days before Israel and the US struck Tehran and killed the country’s leader, Ali Khamenei.
“You could see it forming, it was unlikely to be without consequences,” Commodore Perst told BFBS Forces News. “We could and should have seen this coming.”
He added that he believed that at a strategic level the UK had “taken our eye off the ball”.
But Prof Rowlands said forward planning was “always” done in the armed forces and the Navy was preparing “a month or two in advance” for potential action in the Middle East.
“Everyone had seen and knew about US force build-ups in the region, so it wasn’t a complete surprise that this happened one morning,” he said.
“Options to do something would have been presented and whether those options would be accepted is another matter. If the option had been exercised earlier and the ship had been prepared and set sail, then that would have sent a message that we were part of the operation and that this was not the UK’s political position.”
“So there’s a balance that needs to be there.”
A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: “We are strengthening our defense presence in the Eastern Mediterranean with an additional four Typhoon jets to be sent to Qatar. Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet drone destruction missiles are arriving in Cyprus.
“They will strengthen our RAF Typhoons, F-35B jets, ground-based counter-drone teams, radar systems and Voyager refueling aircraft already deployed. Our jets fly continuous sorties to defend against indiscriminate attacks by Iran, which threatens the UK’s people, interests and bases.”
“The Royal Navy is working as quickly as possible to prepare HMS Dragon for deployment, which includes the resupply of air defense missiles at our munitions facility at HMNB in Portsmouth.”
