HMS Diamond joined Operation Prosperity Guardian, an
international task force to protect merchant shipping in the
region, in December and has maintained a near constant presence
in a ‘high threat area’ of the Red Sea. The destroyer came under
fire in three separate attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels,
successfully destroying nine drones using her world-class Sea
Viper missile system and guns.
The UK continues to be at the forefront of the international
response to the Houthis’ illegal attacks on commercial shipping –
participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian, intercepting
weapon-smuggling to Yemen, imposing sanctions to hold members of
the Houthis to account and conducting necessary, proportionate
and targeted strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen.
Defence Secretary said:
The UK is committed to protecting freedom of navigation. I
visited HMS Diamond in January and thanked the Ship’s Company for
their incredible work defending freedom of navigation, saving
innocent lives and ensuring merchant shipping is protected from
the illegal Houthi attacks. I am confident that HMS Richmond will
carry on her impressive work.
HMS Diamond will now undergo a period of maintenance and resupply
as HMS Richmond takes over her important mission. HMS Richmond,
which left Plymouth at the beginning of January, has a crew of
200 sailors and Royal Marines and a Sea Ceptor missile system,
capable of protecting shipping spread out across an area the size
of Greater Manchester – some 500 square miles of ocean.
HMS Richmond is also armed with a range of medium guns,
machine-guns, small arms, torpedoes, a Royal Marines boarding
team, and a Wildcat helicopter which can search vast areas on
patrols for hostile threats on the water – and destroy them if
necessary with Martlet anti-ship missiles.
HMS Diamond Commander Peter Evans said
The situation in the region is fraught, and ships in the force
are firing on a daily basis – we hand over the baton with our
best wishes to the fantastic team in Richmond who we know will do
a great job.
Having deployed at just five days’ notice we’re used to quickly
switching aim, and now our focus is on a short maintenance and
ammunition re-supply period before we get back to our mission in
the Red Sea.
HMS Diamond has sailed nearly 20,000 nautical miles on patrols
since leaving Portsmouth at the end of November – almost enough
to carry her around the globe – while her Wildcat helicopter has
flown more than 53 hours of sorties over the Red Sea and Gulf of
Aden making its crew the busiest in the Royal Navy.
