The Times (London)

September 30 1987, Wednesday

British ships find a Gulf mine

BYLINE: From NICHOLAS BEESTON

SECTION: Issue 62887.

LENGTH: 426 words

DATELINE: BAHRAIN

Three mine-sweepers, shepherded by a , HMs Andromeda, steamed into the Gulf yesterday to start the most perilous mission undertaken by British forces in the region's six-year 'tanker war'. The three Hunt-class mine-warfare vessels, HMS Bicester, HMS Hurworth and HMS Brecon, were accompanied by the mine counter-measures support vessel, Abdiel. Witnesses say that HMS Bicester located one mine and work began on disarming it yesterday afternoon.

The mine-disposal operation, likely to last several days, is the first conducted in the Gulf by the Royal Navy, which until now has confined itself to escorting British-flagged merchant vessels. HMS Brocklesby, a fourth minesweeper, and Diligence, a vessel with the Armilla Patrol, will probably stay in reserve in the relatively safe waters of the Gulf of Oman. The British contingent is being sent into the narrow Dubai channel to neutralize at least three mines, tethered 12 ft below the surface and marked by warning buoys. The ships are awlso expected to sweep a 50 square-mile area A shipping source from the United Arab Emirates said: 'There is a lot of relief in the shipping community that somebody professional is finally taking charge of clearing the channel.' The operation is particularly dangerous because of the proximity to the British squadron of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' base at Abu Musa island. Shipping sources say that Iran is likely to take some punitive action after its 230,000-ton supertanker Khark was set ablaze yesterday afternoon during an Iraqi air raid near the Iranian port of Ras al-Mutaf. WASHINGTON - In a move that may herald a total economic boycott of Iran, the Senate yesterday voted swiftly and unanimously to cut off crude oil and all other imports from Iran (Michael Binyon writes). The Senate voted, by 98-0, for the amendment to the Defence Bill the day it was introduced by Mr Robert Dole, the Republican minority leader in the Senate. TANKER ESCORTED: US forces, under orders to attack any ship seen sowing mines, began escorting another Kuwaiti tanker convoy southward through the Gulf on Tuesday, the Pentagon said (Our Foreign Staff write). It said the liquified gas carrier, Gas Prince, flying the American flag, had left international waters off Kuwait escorted by the US frigate Hawes. Meanwhile, a Greek tanker came under attack in the Gulf yesterday apparently from an Iranian gunboat, but no casualties were reported, Lloyd's Shipping Intelligence said.

STATE: INDIAN OCEAN (79%); DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (79%);

CITY: LONDON, ENGLAND (78%);

GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (93%); IRAN (93%); UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (92%); KUWAIT (92%); UNITED KINGDOM (90%); INDIAN OCEAN (79%); DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (79%); LONDON, ENGLAND (78%);

COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (93%); IRAN (93%); UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (92%); KUWAIT (92%); UNITED KINGDOM (90%);

SUBJECT: NAVAL VESSELS (90%); NAVIES (90%); BULK SHIPPING (77%); MARINE SHIPPING (77%); US REPUBLICAN PARTY (68%); POLITICAL PARTIES (68%); BOYCOTTS (50%);

LOAD-DATE: September 21, 2000

LANGUAGE: English

Copyright 1987 Times Newspapers Limited