Royal Navy: HMS Duncan on 'high alert' after 'unmanned attack vessel' spotted on her path to the Gulf

HMS Duncan is heading to the region amid heightening tension between the UK and Iran, with the Type 45 destroyer to take over from HMS Montrose. 

Her deployment to the Gulf had been long-planned but has been moved due to the rising hostility in the region and will be tasked with protecting shipping. 

HMS Montrose was called into action last week after three Iranian vessels attempted to stop a British commercial ship from travelling through the Strait of Hormuz 

The Mirror reports that an unmanned attack vessel packed with explosives, known as a Blowfish, has been sighted close to the route HMS Duncan is taking to the Gulf. 

It was spotted lurking in the Red Sea by Saudi forces and it is believed that the vessel was deployed by allies of Iran.

The Blowfish, which can be operated from four-miles away according to the Mirror, is reported to have been deployed by Houthi, which is a religious-political-armed movement operating in northern Yemen. 

HMS Duncan will be at ‘action stations’ as she sails through the Suez Canal, according to the reports. 

Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has said tensions in the Gulf make the case for strengthening the Royal Navy. 

The Foreign Secretary added that ‘we have run down the navy too much’ in recent decades.