HMS Defender, a Portsmouth-based Type-45 destroyer, was deployed to the Gulf in June 2014 with the objective of maintaining maritime security in the area, and as far south as the Somalian coast, where piracy activity has been routinely detected.
Defender, one of the Royal Navy’s most advanced warships, has now switched goals and the vessel is currently operating within a US Navy Battle Group formed by the Arleigh-Burke class destroyers USS Truxton and USS Roosevelt and the Ticonderoga class destroyer USS Philippine Sea.
The ships’ main task is to act as a protective naval and aerial screen for the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush.