"Troubling and incomprehensible" decision of not having a Royal Navy ship in the Middle East challenged
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The decision to not have a conventional Royal Navy warship in the Middle East is “troubling and incomprehensible”, a member of the House of Lords said.
Viscount Trenchard, Conservative, challenged the size and scope of the fleet in the Gulf. Media reports have circulated about the Portsmouth-based minehunter HMS Middleton leaving the Middle East this year.
This would be the last ship to leave the region, after the stalwart Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster was retired in December 2025. Personnel have done some brilliant work in the region over the years, which has incuded boarding narcotics vessels and seizing millions of pounds of drugs.
Speaking in the House of Lords on February 9, Viscount Trenchard called for the decision to redeploy ships to be “reversed with immediate effect” to “preserve the reputation of the Royal Navy”.
Lord Gerard Lemos, Labour, responded: “The Royal Navy has supported partners in the Middle East with operations which have included a significant seizure of over £30m of drugs in 2025 alone.
“I will take that message back to the minister of defence. I should make it clear, the ministry of defence keeps its forces posture in the middle east under constant review. The Royal navy committed to regional stability through its enduring presence.”
A shift of focus from the Middle East was first signalled in the Strategic Defence Review. The publication, released in June 2025, called for the Royal Navy to focus on the North Atlantic and High North amid the growing threat of Russian submarines and shadow fleet vessels. Deployments to the region have been falling in recent years, partly by choice but also due to the shrinking size of the fleet.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in January, Admiral Lord West, former First Sea Lord, said the move away from the Middle East is a “terrible error”. He told the national publication: “It’s extremely unfortunate that our Navy has been reduced to such a level that we can’t have a frigate or offshore patrol vessel based in the Gulf because it’s a region that has constant difficulty and trouble.”