The scandals of the decommissioning of the Royal Navy’s forward-deployed Type 23 frigate, HMS Lancaster, are multiple, with the vessel not due to be replaced amid a decision that its disposal will take place overseas, and yet another reduction in the service’s surface fleet.
Announced to some fanfare by the Royal Navy on 5 December, HMS Lancaster arrived at the UK’s naval base in Bahrain for the final time ahead of decommissioning having spent three years in the Middle East as the service’s forward-deployed major surface combatant.
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The vessel will not be returning to the UK, rather it will be prepared for disposal in Bahrain.
Naval Technology has previously reported on the apparent preference for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to dispose of decommissioned Royal Navy warships at foreign shipyards, such as Turkey’s Leyal, rather than UK sites.
It is unclear if HMS Lancaster will be disposed at a site in Turkey or elsewhere in the Middle East, but with the decision not to renew its certification the vessel is now destined to be towed to its final destination for scrapping.
The UK government has in recent months committed to ensuring that UK businesses are able to benefit from defence deals, although it appears highly unlikely that any UK shipyard will be given the contract to scrap HMS Lancaster.
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By GlobalData“Through the Strategic Defence Review we are creating a new hybrid navy by building world-class submarines and cutting-edge warships, alongside transforming our aircraft carriers and introducing new autonomous vessels to patrol the North Atlantic and beyond,” an MoD spokesperson told Naval Technology.
“We are replacing our Type 23 Frigates with eight of the world’s most advanced anti-submarine warfare ships, the Type 26 frigates. They will be bolstered by five general purpose Type 31 frigates, providing opportunity to project power, support Nato operations and influence on the global stage.”
Is this the end of Kipion?
In mid-July, the UK formally acceded to the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA), a framework aimed at fostering integration in the Middle East, with defence and security its first-listed priority.
Grand words were exchanged. But, as ever with UK defence proclamations, they remained as substantial as air, with little substance upon which to build such a security foundation.
Reports at the time persisted that HMS Lancaster was to head back to UK waters following the completion of its deployment, without replacement.
As it turns out, Lancaster was not even given the traditional send-off, with Royal Navy Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse, stating in a 5 December social media post that “rather than seek to extend [the vessel’s certification], we will now commence preparations for final disposal” from Bahrain, cancelling any return to the UK.
It is typical that a general-purpose Type 23 frigate is forward deployed in Bahrain, allowing the anti-submarine variants to concentrate on protecting the UK’s nuclear deterrent in North Sea and Atlantic waters.
The only remaining general-purpose Type 23 frigate in service is HMS Iron Duke, which in October 2025 entered the Royal Naval Dockyard at HMNB Devonport for repairs and workup ahead of deployments in 2026.
Of the remaining anti-submarine Type 23 frigates, HMS Richmond arrived back in Devonport in late-November after spending most of the year on deployment in the Carrer Strike Group, HMS Somerset, Sutherland, St Albans, and Portland are operating in UK waters, while HMS Kent is in European waters.
It is understood that the deployment of HMS Lancaster was extended due to operational requirements, which will not have ended just because the Royal Navy no longer has a ship in place. This means regional navies, or the US 5th Fleet, will have to do the job instead.
This pauses – and potentially signals the end – of a decades-long presence of a major UK surface combatant in the Middle East, first through the Armilla Patrol and latterly via Operation Kipion.
Royal Navy: a failure generations in the making
The Royal Navy is in crisis, struggling with sustainment and personnel issues, no dedicated amphibious assault capability, and poor availability among its nuclear attack submarine fleet.
It is a patchwork force, best described as a motely collection of old warships operating decades beyond their life expectancy. Any ‘new’ platforms that it does have either don’t work, are too few in number, or else eagerly committed to Nato, lest the UK be tasked to develop a single national carrier strike group.
The Royal Navy has a scarcely believable seven frigates left in commission, of which one is in long-term sustainment. Elsewhere, the efficacy of its Trident strategic deterrent doubtful, given the state of the Vanguard SSBNs and continued failures of ballistic missile tests.
The service’s Type 45 destroyers have spent as much time alongside undergoing repairs as at sea, which is some extreme cases has been pushed into the farcical.
Replacement Type 26 and Type 31 frigates are still years away from even starting to enter service.
A plan to increase the size of the nuclear-powered attack submarine force nothing more than a governmental spreadsheet fantasy.
It is no exaggeration to say that every single warship and submarine in the Royal Navy could each be given its own admiral, with enough shore-based gold epaulettes left over to amply decorate a Christmas tree, such is the ludicrous structure it now inhabits.
All this is the failure of Royal Navy leadership, MoD officials, and UK defence incompetence through governments of both sides of the political spectrum over generations.
What remains is a service that has long-since abandoned aspirations of being a full-spectrum force, very much a global second-tier navy.
