Carns Visits RFA Lyme Bay in Gibraltar — UK-France Mine-Clearing Operation Stands Ready
Armed Forces Minister Al Carns took a small group of reporters to visit the RFA Lyme Bay at Gibraltar yesterday as it prepares for a possible international operation, led by the United Kingdom and France, to secure the Strait of Hormuz. The amphibious landing vessel was being loaded with ammunition and mine-hunting sea drones equipped with sonar. Hundreds of British sailors are waiting to be deployed for a mine-clearing mission — only once a peace agreement is reached. Cmdr Gemma Britton, in charge of the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group, said Iran could have a “huge” variety of mines throughout the strait — rocket-propelled, cabled, or sea-bed mines triggered by sound, movement or light.
The priority for the Royal Navy mine-clearing mission would be to clear a transit lane in the strait to allow around 700 ships to leave, Cmdr Britton said. A lane flowing in the opposite direction would then be cleared to allow ships to enter. Clearing the entire strait could take months or years. A US official told reporters that the US has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait, nor have any ships been damaged — though last night’s CENTCOM strike statement that two IRGC boats were “attempting to emplace mines” complicates that picture. The Carns visit is the most operationally concrete UK signal yet that British naval forces are prepared to participate in the post-agreement Hormuz reopening — and gives Sir Keir Starmer’s defence platform a forward-deployed dimension at a moment when his domestic-political position is contested.