HMS Dragon returns to Portsmouth after 214 days, from defending the Cyprus bases to the Arabian Sea

The British destroyer HMS Dragon returned to her home base at Portsmouth on Friday, October 9, after 214 days away from port. Her deployment began with the defence of Britain’s bases in Cyprus and ended in the Arabian Sea. Around 950 relatives and friends welcomed the crew home.

The ship sailed on March 10, eight days after a Shahed-type drone struck RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, causing minor damage. At the time Dragon was in scheduled maintenance. Work that would normally have taken six weeks was completed in six days so that she could sail with about 230 sailors.

From Cyprus to Souda Bay and Suez

The destroyer reached the Eastern Mediterranean in March and joined the force protecting the Cyprus bases, together with British aircraft, helicopters and ground-based air defences. In the same mission the RAF used Typhoons firing APKWS rockets against drones from Akrotiri. Dragon is fitted with the Sea Viper system, designed to intercept missiles and drones, and her radar formed part of the wider air-defence network.

In April a fault in the ship’s fresh-water plant sent her for repairs in Souda Bay, Crete, according to Navy Lookout, while the UK Ministry of Defence said she remained available to sail if needed. In May she passed through the Suez Canal to prepare for the proposed multinational mission, led by Britain and France, to restore safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Hormuz mission that never began

The mission, which involved more than 40 countries, never began: London and Paris judged that security conditions did not allow it. Dragon carried out maritime-security patrols in the Indian Ocean, operated with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, and provided air cover for the passage of RFA Lyme Bay and allied ships through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait. In all she steamed 56,550 km and called at seven countries, among them Cyprus, Greece (Crete), Oman, Saudi Arabia and Malta.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Gwyn Jenkins said that every member of the crew should return home proud. The deployment also drew criticism over the thin margins of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet, since no British warship was ready in the region when Akrotiri was hit. No replacement for Dragon in the Middle East has been announced. All six Type 45 destroyers are now in Portsmouth, and Dragon enters a maintenance period.