The specialist minehunting ship that the UK dispatched to help re-start and protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has arrived in the Middle East.
RFA Lyme Bay has safely passed through the Red Sea with around half a dozen autonomous, crewless and remotely-operated systems, some of which will be used for mine countermeasures (MCM).
The ship is crewed by more than 270 personnel: a combination of Royal Fleet Auxiliary seafarers, over 100 UK Royal Navy mine warfare and diving/explosive ordnance disposal experts, plus medics, Royal Marines, British Army soldiers and French Navy sailors.
Lyme Bay has been quickly converted into a mothership to accommodate and operate a string of new systems and craft as part of a proposed multi-national effort to render the Strait of Hormuz safe for merchant traffic to pass.
Commander Gemma Britton Royal Navy, Commander of the UK Mine Countermeasures Force, said "a huge number of people" from across the UK Ministry of Defence and industry have worked over the past few weeks to bring together experts and cutting edge mine detection and clearance technology on to Lyme Bay.
Sailing in company with the German Navy command and support ship Mosel and MCM vessel Fulda, Lyme Bay was shepherded through the Red Sea by the Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Dragon.
The 140-strong German force is also equipped with autonomous systems, mine clearance divers and vessel protection teams.
Among the specialist pieces of equipment loaded aboard Lyme Bay are at least two classes of crewless/autonomous boats, capable of launching towed sensors or remotely-operated submersible autonomous 2D/3D sonar systems, as well as portable mine disposal submersibles, capable of locating, identifying and destroying mines.