Royal Navy Minehunter HMS Middleton Arrives In Bahrain With Cutting-Edge Kit Minehunter HMS Middleton will be joining HMS Chiddingfold, Penzance, Montrose and RFA Lyme Bay as part of Operation Kipion.

30th September 2021 at 1:18pm

Royal Navy minehunter HMS Middleton arriving in Bahrain.

Minehunter HMS Middleton has arrived in Bahrain to continue 15 years of continuous deployments of Royal Navy Mine Counter Measures (MCM) Vessels in the region.

HMS Middleton arrived in the Gulf after undertaking a two-month transit covering just under 7,000 nautical miles.

She will be carrying on board new cutting-edge kit for missions, taking over from HMS Brocklesby and HMS Shoreham after their three-year stint on operations.

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"Clearly having the 15 years of continuous MCM expeditionary minehunting capability in the Gulf, is a fantastic achievement," said Lieutenant Commander Neil Skinner, HMS Middleton's Commanding Officer, said on arrival in Bahrain.

"For me, personally, one of my first jobs as Officer of the Watch was back in 2007, in the very early stages of the continuous MCM, so it is nice to be out here as a Commanding Officer all this time later."

HMS Middleton will be joining HMS Chiddingfold, Penzance, Montrose and RFA Lyme Bay as part of Operation Kipion, working on mine counter-measures and helping to ensure the safe flow of merchant vessels.