HMS Middleton will spend three years based in Bahrain and will carry out security operations across the region.
HMS Middleton will set sail today for a three year deployment to the Gulf where she will protect vital sea lanes and provide wider maritime security to the region. Although Middleton will be based in Bahrain for three years, the 45 ships company will rotate every six months.
Four of the Navy’s minehunters are a permanent presence in the Gulf demonstrating the UK’s continued commitment to enduring peace and stability in the region.
I’m curious why the UK doesn’t have corvettes for work like this. Lots of light, fast surface attack ships would seem to be a logical thing to have in your fleet. Something like the US navy’s littoral warships for instance, they’re extremely flexible and would suit roles like this.
Doesn’t the new, upgraded 2500 ton River Class suit that purpose?
They do twenty knots and only eight will be built. They don’t have the flexibility or speed of the littoral ships, but are a better alternative to sending billion pound anti aircraft destroyers after drug smugglers.
https://youtu.be/XQSwxU7Xefo
Eight?
My bad, that included foreign orders. Four is quite definitely not enough…
There are no foreign orders and it’s three.
There’s three in the second batch… Maybe Wikipedia is out of date then…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River-class_patrol_vessel
Ian Petrie My understanding was that there were to be four
Erm, not even sure about that now!
I’m bad. Three, at this tme
These ships are in the Gulf undertaking their primary purpose -,minewarefare. They need to keep the Straits open if the Iranians try to block them.
I agree, but we still need a whole lot of these…
https://youtu.be/on7T5basB1k
@Ian, becayse corvettes are terrible, they are for poor navy’s that cant afford the resources needed for a ship that gives a real presence.