Gulf tensions force Western navies to confront mine warfare shortfalls
RFA Lyme Bay was commissioned on 26 November 2007. (Photo: Royal Navy)
The conversion of RFA Lyme Bay comes during signs that European navies may once again need to cooperate on Gulf mine clearance operations.
As tensions escalate in the Strait of Hormuz, Western navies are pushing to restore mine countermeasure capabilities that had quietly been allowed to wane – and the conversion of RFA Lyme Bay into a mine countermeasure mothership sits as a reminder of that effort.
The UK Royal Navy (RN) announced on 29 March that RFA Lyme Bay, a Bay-class landing ship dock, is being fitted in Gibraltar with a suite of autonomous mine countermeasure (MCM) equipment, transforming the vessel into a crewed mothership for uncrewed underwater and surface systems.
Once outfitted, Lyme Bay will be able to store,
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