Conservative Government Minister suggests it is impossible to escort every vessel through the Straits of Hormuz after British flagged vessel is seized by Iran.

Tobias Ellwood, an Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, suggested on Sky News today that it is impossible to protect from Iran every individual British merchant ship which passes through the Straits of Hormuz.

My first thought was to wonder if he had ever heard of the Convoy system, my second was to wonder if Mr Ellwood regrets Conservative Government defence cuts which have resulted in the Royal Navy having only 19 frigates and destroyers. 

Who could not agree with the views of Lord West, the former lst Sea Lord, who was reported in The Telegraph as saying it had been “foolhardy” and “unacceptable” for UK shipping to transit the area without a Royal Navy escort?

The Telegraph reported Lord West, the former 1st Sea Lord, as saying it had been “foolhardy” and “unacceptable”, for UK shipping to transit the area without a Royal Navy escort.  He also said:

“We have to run convoys of merchant ships with a Navy escort so we can look after them. It was very stupid of us to allow a merchant ship to go through those waters before HMS Montrose was close enough to look after her.

As soon as we seized Grace 1 we should have been aware the Iranians would retaliate. We should have instituted protection measures for the control of merchant shipping and said to the Stena Impero to wait in port until we could escort you through the Straits with one or two warships.”

The following timely and highly pertinent letter, first published in The Daily Telegraph, appeared in The Week (July 20), before the Stene Impero incident took place.  If anyone in the Ministry of Defence or Foreign Office read it they obviously took no heed.

Navy blues,

To The Daily Telegraph

Jeremy Hunt is right to say that the Royal Navy needs to be expanded to meet today’s threats.

In 1987, an Iranian warship fired five Sea Killer missiles at a Shell tanker.  Fortunately, they all missed.  The next day, Mr Hunt’s father, the commander in chief, directed that three destroyers and frigates be permanently on station and all British ships be accompanied through the danger area.  We had 55 destroyers and frigates then.  Today we have just 19.

Vice Admiral John McAnally, national president, Royal Naval Association.