Iran: 'Bitter mess' overshadows HMS Dragon op as Portsmouth expert criticises 'poor' Middle East availability
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The UK is in a ‘bitter mess’ due to the size of the Royal Navy fleet and lack of presence in the Middle East, a naval history expert has said.
Dr Matthew Heaslip, Senior Lecturer in Naval History at the University of Portsmouth, believes warships abandoning the Gulf before the Iran conflict broke out was a grave error caused by the fleet’s small size. HMS Dragon, a Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer, will be deployed to protect Cyprus after RAF Akrotiri was struck by a kamikaze drone on Monday (March 2).
Other systems attempted to hit the base, but only minimal damage was caused and there were no casualties. This happened after US-Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tehran has retaliated by striking Western positions and Arab nations, with British citizens stranded in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and elsewhere.
The Royal Navy will be turning its attention back to a region where its presence was shrinking. HMS Lancaster, a last-stationed Type 23 frigate, was retired in December 2025 without a replacement - marking the first time a warship is not deployed in the Middle East since 1980.
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse defended the decision and said it was “a more modern offer for what the regional partners want”, adding that they preferred boarding teams, autonomous systems and naval leadership. Dr Heaslip said allies will be changing their tune given the recent drone strikes and bombing raids, and there was a more obvious reason for the lack of presence.
“Ultimately, the fleet is too small,” he told The News. “They don’t have a choice, but he’s not going to say that. Whether allies in the region wanted it, that was a few weeks ago. As we know, news changes quickly. It seems like a number of the Emirates and figures in the Middle East did not think that Iran would attack them.
“Now, they might be reassessing that. The Royal Navy only had a small contribution there in recent years, but it was a valuable one for escorting ships. If there’s no means to escort through the Strait of Hormuz, that’s a global economic line severed. Steve Moorhouse may have been accurate that allies a few weeks ago didn’t think the naval presence made a big difference. It would right now, but we don’t have the ships either.”
HMS Dragon is currently at HMNB Portsmouth’s Upper Harbour Ammunitioning Facility being supplied with munitions. Dr Heaslip said her first priority would be to protect onshore assets, though he would prefer more assets deployed to the Middle East.
“There is the question of how to deal with protecting expats, assets, and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and so on,” he added. “She can’t be in two places at once. It’s going to be hard decisions being made given the shortage of hulls. The strain on our Royal Navy is extremely pronounced. In the dangerous world we’re in, that is a huge headache for the force and Britain in general.
“Only one of six air defence destroyers available is poor. For evacuating people, in every previous crisis, there has been major warships available to help. The best ship for evacuations is RFA Lyme Bay, but that is stuck in Gibraltar for budgetary reasons and crew shortages. The shortage of frigates means if you were to send that to the Middle East to help evacuate, you wouldn’t have the escorts to protect it, so you need to work with allies.
“That’s all ignoring the wider threats to subsea infrastructure. The UK is in a bitter mess at the moment. It needs more hulls. It needs the ships we’ve got at sea rather than in dock. A lot of them do need repairs, and that is the reality of navies. If you’ve not got enough of them, you end up with shortages, and it comes at the worst time.”
It’s possible that HMS Dragon may not be able to leave Portsmouth for the Eastern Mediterranean until next week. A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said: “We are reinforcing our defensive presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet drone-busting missiles are deploying within days. They will reinforce our RAF Typhoons, F-35B jets, ground-based counter-drone teams, radar systems, and Voyager refuelling aircraft already deployed.
“Our jets are now flying continuous sorties to defend against indiscriminate Iranian strikes threatening UK people, interests, and bases. The Royal Navy are working as fast as possible to prepare HMS Dragon for deployment, including resupplying her air defence missiles at our ammunition facility in HMNB in Portsmouth.”