HMS Dragon has finally left Portsmouth and is on it way to protect the UK’s airbase in Cyprus from air attacks.
But RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone more than a week ago – with others intercepted – so why has it taken so long for the ship to set sail?
Former Royal Navy commander and defence analyst Tom Sharpe OBE said shooting down drones is “bread and butter” stuff for the stealthy Type 45 destroyer.
Iran war latest: HMS Dragon leaves harbour
He told Sky News there were two key reasons why the ship had only just been deployed – and said “neither are good”.
Mr Sharpe said the first is down to a “30-year decline” in defence spending – a topic in sharp focus since the Ukraine War – which means the Navy’s cupboard is “very bare”.
He singled out the period when David Cameron was prime minister.
Dark ships and shadow fleets – what is crossing ‘closed’ Strait of Hormuz?
Could Putin be the big winner of the Iran war?
Donald Trump is not impossible to predict, Beijing now knows that
“The strategic defence review in 2010 [and] the Cameron-Osbourne austerity review really expedited that decline, and for that period of Tory government no new warships were ordered,” Mr Sharpe told Sky’s This Is Why podcast.
“The replacement frigates were put on ice. There’s a real culpability here to that entire era.”
Mr Sharpe, who commanded four ships during his 27-year career, said the Royal Navy essentially now had just seven frigates and six destroyers.
“If you do the rule of three to one – which is one working up, one on operations and one in maintenance – that leaves your cupboard very bare,” he said.
“And we effectively have two destroyers that are seaworthy at the moment. It just so happens neither are at immediate notice to go.”
He said Britain still had the “building blocks” of a functioning navy, such as anti-submarine warfare, air defence and mine warfare, but it had become “wafer thin”.
Limited resources mean there’s now a “real nervousness about using these precious assets”, according to Mr Sharpe, as it might put them out of action further down the line due to the need for routine maintenance.
“This is one of the reasons she [HMS Dragon] wasn’t sent, because if we sent her early – earlier than we were expecting – what do we now lose, what can we not do in six months’ time,” he said.
The second main reason for the warship’s tardy departure falls at the government’s feet, according to Mr Sharpe.
He said ministers must take a significant share of the blame as the need to get a Type 45 “ready for sea and out the door was blatantly obvious”.
For example, US President Donald Trump had made no secret of the fact that the US was building significant military assets near Iran in the weeks leading up to its first strikes.
“The Navy would have said so [that battleships needed to be ready to go] – but that’s not their decision,” Mr Sharpe explained.
“They just present options, ‘this is what we’ve got, this is what we recommend.’ Then it’s not in their hands.
“So somewhere between the Navy and Number 10, the decision-making process this time around has gone really badly wrong.”
Crew ‘straining at the leash’
HMS Dragon could now take anywhere between six and a half and 11 days to get to Cyprus depending on conditions in the Bay of Biscay and the speed it can maintain, according to the former Navy commander.
He said the 200-strong crew would be “straining at the leash” to put their training into practice.
The ship is set to use its pyramid-shaped Sampson radar tower to detect any drones or missiles heading towards Cyprus and the Akrotiri airbase.
The weapons at its disposal are formidable: Surface-to-air Sea Viper missiles, a 20mm Phalanx rapid-fire cannon for close-range combat, and an automated 30mm cannon that can take out multiple drones.
“The Sampson radar can multitask at an extraordinary rate and will determine for you what is the greatest threat,” Mr Sharpe told Sky.
There’s also a chance, though, that priorities could change in the coming days and weeks, he added.
Dragon could potentially end up playing a part in an effort to open up the Strait of Hormuz – the vital oil route that’s currently a no-go zone for commercial ships.
“At some point, someone is going to have to try to lever that open,” he said. “The Type 45 in that environment would be very, very useful to the American effort down there.”
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
However, one potential scenario, according to Mr Sharpe, could be that the war ends or simmers down to an extent that the UK warship is not really needed.
“There’s a very real chance she’ll get there, come storming in at the last minute and everyone will go ‘thanks very much, you can carry on now’.”
