☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑💻“In October 1987, I transited the #StraitOfHormuz on the bridge of the frigate #HMSAndromeda. We were watched from less than a mile away by an Iranian warship as Ian Stewart, the armed forces minister of the day, decried them as “pirates”.
Later that day, we transferred on to one of the four counter-measures vessels that had been dispatched to clear the waters off #Dubai of Iranian mines. At that time, the #ArmillaPatrol consisted of four or five #destroyers or #frigates, four of those minehunters and three or four support vessels.
Today there are no Royal Navy ships in the #Gulf, after its #Bahrain based squadron was run down to save money and allow sailors to be deployed elsewhere. The last of the #minehunters returned to #Britain in January.
Back in 1987, at the time of my visit to the Gulf, the #RoyalNavy had 50 #destroyers and frigates, 21 #submarines and three #AircraftCarriers. Today it has 13 of those large surface ships, nine subs and two carriers.”
Rule Britannia, no more. ⚓️
<https://thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/strait-hormuz-reopen-royal-navy-sfphbgns5> (paywall) / <https://archive.md/pEJGJ>
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