HMS Dragon departs UK for eastern Mediterranean

HMS Dragon has begun its journey to the eastern Mediterranean to join the UK's defensive operations in the region.

The Type 45 destroyer left its dock in Portsmouth on Tuesday afternoon, having only recently come out of maintenance. It will be the UK's first and only warship in the region when it arrives in about a week.

It comes hours after the government placed a naval support ship, the RFA Lyme Bay, on "heightened readiness" to be sent to support British nationals in the Middle East if needed.

HMS Dragon's primary role will be protecting RAF Akrotiri, which was hit with an Iranian-made drone earlier this month.

The strike was said to have caused "minimal damage" to a hangar on the base. Defence Secretary John Healey told the House of Commons on Monday that the drone had come from Lebanon or Iraq.

Three US bombers also took off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier approved "defensive" US action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases.

HMS Dragon is armed with Sea Viper missiles and will be assisted by Wildcat helicopters from the 815 Naval Air Squadron equipped with Martlet missiles capable of taking out aerial drones, the Royal Navy said.

"My ship's company have worked tirelessly to ensure we are ready for our mission to the eastern Mediterranean," the ship's commanding officer Cdr Iain Giffin said in a statement.

Healey praised the efforts of the Royal Navy in preparing HMS Dragon for deployment, saying: "What is normally six weeks of work was completed in just six days - a remarkable effort delivered round the clock. The very best of Britain in action."

Meanwhile, the RFA Lyme Bay has been told to be prepared to deploy "as part of prudent planning... should she be needed to assist in maritime tasks in the eastern Mediterranean", the Ministry of Defence has said.

The auxiliary vessel is equipped with an aviation platform and has medical facilities, meaning she can play a role in evacuations and medical treatment.

The MoD would not be drawn on what the primary purpose of the RFA Lyme Bay would be were it to be deployed, but its facilities as a support ship make it well-suited for humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

The vessel is currently in Gibraltar and has not yet been tasked. The MoD stressed the change in status was precautionary.

The RFA Lyme Bay is a Bay Class landing ship, not a warship, and its primary function is to deliver troops, vehicles, stores and ammunition in the case of amphibious assaults.

The Sun reported that the RAF is due to deliver military medics and a mobile field hospital that can operate aboard the ship.

HMS Prince of Wales - one of the UK's two aircraft carriers - has also been placed on heightened readiness, with defence sources telling the BBC that its crew had been told to be ready to set sail in five days.

However, this was not explicitly for a potential deployment to the eastern Mediterranean and an MoD spokesperson said on Tuesday that the ship's scheduled deployment to the north Atlantic had not changed.

Elsewhere, the MoD said three Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities had arrived in Cyprus this week, alongside a Merlin helicopter.

Healey told MPs that RAF Typhoon fighter jets had taken out two Iranian drones, one over Jordan and a second heading towards Bahrain.

F-35s were also destroying drones over Jordan, the defence secretary said, while UK jets were also conducting defensive sorties over the United Arab Emirates.

Counter-drone units were defending against attacks on coalition bases in Iraq, he added. A drone heading towards coalition forces was taken out overnight, the MoD said on Tuesday.

The UK government has not joined the US and Israel in offensive operations against Iran, but has offered the US use of UK airbases to conduct what it calls defensive strikes against Iranian missiles and launchpads.

It has stressed that it has been positioning military assets in the region since January and has sent more since the conflict began.

The UK government has faced accusations of not responding to the crisis in the Middle East quickly enough.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: "We have put bases in other people's countries, and those countries are saying we're not doing enough to help them. I think that's absolutely shocking."

A number of Gulf nations housing US facilities have been targeted with Iranian missiles and drones during the war, which began on 28 February.

Bahrain and the UAE are among Gulf nations that have been subject to strikes by Iranian drones and missiles, including some that have hit civilian targets such as hotels and airports.

With airspace restrictions still in place across the region, commercial flights in and out of the region are slowly resuming after many airlines cancelled services.

However, British Airways said on Tuesday that it was cancelling its flights to Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv up to and including 28 March.

The UK government has arranged evacuation flights for British citizens in the region. The first flight landed at Stansted on Friday.

Around 45,000 UK citizens had been evacuated so far.