{"id":44157,"date":"2026-04-07T21:21:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44157"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:21:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:21:04","slug":"hms-dragon-docks-in-eastern-mediterranean-with-minor-technical-issue-as-iran-war-escalates-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44157","title":{"rendered":"HMS Dragon docks in eastern Mediterranean with ‘minor technical issue’ as Iran war escalates | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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HMS Dragon, deployed to protect British air bases in Cyprus, has docked for maintenance – less than a month after leaving Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

The Type 45 destroyer is capable of shooting down the types of drones and ballistic missiles being launched by Iran.<\/p>\n

Iran war latest: ‘A whole civilisation will die’, Trump warns<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the vessel has a “minor technical issue” with its water systems, and the ship has docked in the eastern Mediterranean for what the Ministry of Defence<\/a><\/strong> (MoD) has described as a “routine logistics stop and a short maintenance period”.<\/p>\n

The MoD added in a statement: “HMS Dragon will remain at a very high level of readiness during this period, able to sail at short notice if required.”<\/p>\n

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\n HMS Dragon docked in Portsmouth ahead of deployment. Pic: MoD
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HMS Dragon is one of a number of British military assets in the region which are defending UK bases and allied nations from Iranian-made drones and other weapons.<\/p>\n

Read more: HMS Dragon and its weapons<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Shahed-136 drone hit RAF Akrotiri – one of two major British bases in Cyprus<\/a><\/strong> – on 2 March, prompting the prime minister<\/a><\/strong> to deploy the ship.<\/p>\n

But it took another week to leave Portsmouth<\/a>,<\/strong> and then around another two weeks to arrive in the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

It has raised concerns among some military analysts<\/a><\/strong> about the UK’s military preparedness<\/a><\/strong> and ability to respond to threats.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Is US about to commit war crimes?<\/a>
Iran undermines US ‘air dominance’<\/a>
Has Britain let down Cyprus<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe told Sky’s This Is Why podcast<\/a><\/strong> that one reason is down to a “30-year decline” in defence spending.<\/p>\n

But at the time, Defence Secretary John Healey<\/a><\/strong> pointed out that the crew completed the necessary work to prepare for deployment in six days, compared with the usual six weeks.<\/p>\n

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\n HMS Dragon departing for Cyprus
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Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump<\/a><\/strong> has been critical of the UK’s decision to provide only defensive support.<\/p>\n

He compared Royal Navy<\/a><\/strong> ships to “toys”, adding they are “too old” and “broken-down”.<\/p>\n

Military sources said the technical issue has not affected the ship’s operation, and the crew have access to water for washing and catering as normal.<\/p>\n

In an update about the ship, the MoD confirmed in a statement: “HMS Dragon is undertaking a routine logistics stop and a short maintenance period in the Eastern Mediterranean, allowing the ship to take onboard provisions, optimise systems, and conduct maintenance.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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HMS Dragon, deployed to protect British air bases in Cyprus, has docked for maintenance – less than a month after leaving Portsmouth. The Type 45 destroyer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}