British warship sent to defend Cyprus base spent three days in Channel

The British warship dispatched to help defend a UK military base in Cyprus from drone attacks spent three days sailing around the English Channel before finally heading towards the eastern Mediterranean, it has been reported.

HMS Dragon left Portsmouth on Tuesday but only departed UK waters yesterday after previously being delayed for a week while essential repairs were carried out.

Plans to change the ship’s crew in Plymouth were reportedly abandoned after Navy commanders ordered the £1 billion destroyer to press on with its mission, according to The Sun.

A crew swap could have delayed the deployment even further. The vessel’s responder, which broadcasts its position, was switched off as it entered open sea.

The delay has drawn comparisons with the rapid naval response at the start of the Falklands War in April 1982, when the first submarine left port on the same day the conflict was declared.

The deployment comes after a British military base in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, was struck by an Iranian drone on March 1 that evaded air defences.

The drone hit a hangar used by US intelligence aircraft close to military housing.

Army dependents have since been instructed to evacuate the base, while the Prime Minister ordered HMS Dragon to sail to the region to help defend it from further missile attacks.

The destroyer carries some of Britain’s most advanced air defence missiles and is one of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers equipped with radar capable of tracking up to 1,000 objects at distances of up to 250 miles.

It can also fire up to eight missiles simultaneously to intercept incoming threats.

At the time of the March 1 drone strike, all six of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers were in port, with only three considered operational — including HMS Dragon.

Naval sources criticised the fact the vessel was in dry dock without weapons and surrounded by scaffolding when the order came for it to deploy.