Themes

At war with Iraq

The Royal Navy had been operating in the Persian Gulf since war broke out between Iran and Iraq in 1980.

In October 1980 the British government established a naval squadron of two destroyers and two frigates for the Gulf of Oman, supported at sea by a tanker and stores ship from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. This was the beginning of the ‘Armilla Patrol’ to protect the international shipping sailing in or out of the Persian Gulf.

The Gulf War broke out in 1990 prompted by the Iraqi invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. The Royal Navy built up the Armilla Patrol into Task Force 321.1 as part of the international force stationed in the Gulf to enforce UN embargoes on Iraq.

The first British ships to arrive were the destroyers HMS Gloucester and HMS Cardiff with the frigate HMS Brazen. The Type 22 frigate HMS London was quickly fitted with the extra communications needed for the Senior Naval Officer, Middle East to be able to exercise command.

The Gulf War proved to be the biggest British deployment since the Falklands War. The Royal Naval commitment in the Persian Gulf by the end of the Iraq War had risen to four frigates, seven destroyers, eight mine countermeasures vessels, two depot ships and 11 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, plus elements of six Fleet Air Arm helicopter squadrons.

HMS Brazen (1980). (RNM)

Article highlights

• At war with Iraq

• NBC threat

• Operating in the Gulf

• HMS Gloucester

Follow the links to find out more about -

• Lessons from the Falklands

• The Type 23 Frigate

• New technology between the Falklands and the Gulf War

• The Gulf War

• Into the new millennium