The HMS Dragon was one of two Destroyer-class ships that was reportedly being considered by the Prime Minister to protect RAF Akrotiri after it was damaged by an Iranian drone
Keir Starmer has decided which of the advanced ships at the UK’s disposal he will deploy toward the Middle East as the UK is dragged into Donald Trump and Israel’s unilateral war on Iran.
The Prime Minister has settled on the HMS Dragon, a £1 billion Destroyer class ship. The vessel will be sent to the Mediterranean after RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was damaged, in what was believed to have been an Iranian Shahed drone incident.
While the damage to the base’s landing strip was deemed “limited” by Cypriot officials, the Government announced it would take a precautionary measure and send the ship to bolster regional security. The Dragon is one of the Royal Navy’s most advanced ships, and was one of two believed to have been considered by Starmer ahead of the major decision today.
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The ship, according to the Navy, is “one of the most advanced in the world”, and “instantly recognisable” thanks to the Welsh Dragon emblazoned on its bow that gives her the name. A Type-45 Daring class, she is 152.4m long, 21.2m wide, and boasts an 8,000 to 8,500-tonne displacement.
The Dragon’s primary role is to provide “protection to her fellow ships by detecting, interrogating and neutralising enemy threats”, which it accomplishes using the “fearsome” Sea Viper anti-air missile system.
The system carries Sea Viper missiles, which the Navy boasts are capable of defending against even supersonic targets. She bristles with 72 missiles, CAMM launcher cells, and 4.5-inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval, Phalanx CIWS – a type of radar-guided Gatling gun -, and 30mm guns. Dragon’s massive frame and bristling arsenal is navigated by 200 personnel, who participate in long-range target acquisition, helicopter maintenance, and weapons maintenance.
Aside from being powerful in the conventional sense, the Dragon is also one of the few ships in the Royal Navy’s massive fleet that boasts star power.
She famously made an appearance in No Time To Die, the 2021 Bond Film in which M, the fictional MI6 chief, orders a missile strike on a Japanese island being used by the villanous Safin to produce a dangerous bioweapon. Bond, played by Daniel Craig in his last dance with the character, is killed in the resulting firestorm.
The other ship considered by the Prime Minister, the HMS Duncan, is the sixth of the UK’s Type-45 Destroyers, but isn’t quite as advanced as its counterpart currently en route to the Mediterranean.
The Duncan cost roughly £400 million to build, and is the same size and weight as the Dragon, while also carrying the same advanced Sea Viper system. Like the Dragon, it also comes with a Sampson radar, and boasts the same guns and missile capabilities – among them the ability to launch up to eight missiles in 10 seconds, and guide up to 16 for 70 mile stretches.
The ship is currently anchored at Portsmouth Naval Base, and, like its fellow Type-45s, participates in a range of missions ranging from defence against air attacks to providing humanitarian aid.
