UK destroyer bolsters Gulf protection force

One of the Royal Navy’s most advanced warships is being assigned to escort UK-flagged vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz following Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the busy waterway


HMS DUNCAN
Type 45 destroyer

Wildcat attack helicopter

S1850M long-range radar

2 x Phalanx guns

2 x 30mm guns

Sampson air-tracking radar

Harpoon anti-ship missiles

Aster anti-air missiles

4.5-in gun

Displacement: 8,000 tonnes 	Top speed: 30 knots 	Personnel: 190
Length: 152m 			Range: 13,000km 	Commissioned: 2013


Naval bases
UK
U.S.

IRAQ
Kuwait
The Gulf

Bahrain
Headquarters of U.S. Fifth Fleet

QATAR
SAUDI ARABIA
UAE
Dubai
Fujairah
OMAN
Duqm
Mahshahr
Bushehr
Asaluyeh
Lengeh
IRAN
Bandar Abbas
Strait of Hormuz
Jask
Gulf of Oman
Chabahar
Arabian Sea

300km 185 miles


GULF FORCES

UK
1 destroyer
1 frigate
1 auxiliary ship
4 minesweepers

U.S. 

1 aircraft carrier
1 cruiser
5 destroyers
3 amphibious ships
At least 1 submarine

Iran
8 corvettes
3 attack submarines
1 coastal submarine
15 midget submarines
Hundreds of coastal patrol craft and small boats


Sources: American Security Project, Royal Navy, UK Parliament, USNI, U.S. Navy 
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