US eyes swift Middle East return of minesweepers held up in Singapore, official says

The US Navy hopes to expedite the return to the Persian Gulf of two ships refitted for minesweeping now undergoing maintenance in Singapore, a senior US official said on March 25, as concerns mount over Iranian threats to mine the Strait of Hormuz.

The official acknowledged the US had “not a lot of options” in the Indian Ocean to maintain the two littoral combat ships based out of Bahrain, saying it hoped to minimise time spent laid up in Singapore, 6,300km away.

The work would be completed as soon as possible to prepare the ships to get “back into the theatre” where they were based, the official said, declining to provide a timeframe and speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Tehran has attacked countries that host US bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, causing the worst energy supply shock in history.

Iran has deployed mines in the strait, sources have said, and its Defence Council on March 23 warned that various types of mines, including floating mines deployed from the coast, could be used if the US were to blockade Kharg Island, Tehran’s main oil export hub.

The official said the ships had been at sea for quite some time due to military operations and needed to be refitted and undergo maintenance.

The US Navy has decommissioned Bahrain-based Avenger-class ships designed as minesweepers, replacing them with littoral combat ships that can be fitted out with mine-countermeasure equipment.

Asked what minesweeping capacity the US currently has in the Middle East while the ships were in Singapore, the official said the military’s mine warfare capabilities included unmanned undersea vehicles, four Avenger-class vessels, helicopters and divers. REUTERS