DAR AL HARB - U.K.: BRITISH NAVY MISTAKES THAT LED TO THE CAPTURE OF 15 BRITISH SAILORS BY IRAN

Navy mistakes are blamed for capture of hostages by Iran
By Kim Sengupta

The capture of British sailors and marines by Iran in the Gulf was the result of a series of mistakes by the Navy, and the decision to let the freed hostages sell their story to the press was a "collective failure of judgement" by the Ministry of Defence, two official inquiries have concluded.

The selling of stories by armed forces personnel would be banned and reforms implemented to prevent a recurrence of the incident which led to a heated diplomatic confrontation between London and Tehran, the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, said. The damning reports expose Royal Navy failings in many key areas, in appreciating the threat posed by the Iranians, in dealing with intelligence, and in decision-making leading up to the crisis. The handling of the media by the MoD was marked by disorganisation which allowed the auction of the hostages' story to newspapers and broadcasters, causing "anger and concern" among the public.

One of the reports, by former Royal Marines Lieutenant-General Sir Rob Fulton into the seizure of the naval party remains classified and will not be published for "operational reasons", said the Government. No individuals have been named as culpable for the mistakes, and no disciplinary action will be taken.

Denying that the report was a whitewash, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, the head of the Royal Navy, said that some personnel could still face "appropriate administrative action". "People who need to be given any messages will be given the messages," he said.

Admiral Band acknowledged that "bad calls were made and operational awareness was found wanting". He accepted that the Navy's reputation had been "dented" but maintained that it would recover. "The events of 23 March were one bad day in our proud 100-year history. I can assure the British people that I will personally ensure the recommendations of this report are fully implemented."

Mr Browne said he accepted all the recommendations and stressed that General Fulton's report had found the capture of the naval party was not the result of a lack of equipment or resources, including helicopter cover, and HMS Cornwall, the ship from which the boarding party operated, was fit for purpose.

He continued: "General Fulton's conclusions suggest that there is no case for disciplinary action against any of the individuals involved. But this report does emphasise that many of those individuals could have done more to prevent what happened. In that respect it identifies some failings, both collective and individual, which the Navy's chain of command will deal with."

The second report, which dealt with the handling of the media by the MoD, was headed by Tony Hall, a former BBC director of news and present head of the Royal Opera House; Patrick Turner, a senior MoD civil servant, and Major-General Andrew Stewart, the assistant chief of defence staff. Mr Hall said that, extraordinarily, he could not find anyone who admitted taking the decision to allow the returned detainees to sell their story.

He could find, he said, "not one single person in position who took the decision to authorise payment or one clear occasion when that decision was made. This was a collective failure of judgement or abstention from judgement."

...


and


The errors that let Iran seize 15 crew members
· Secret report accuses senior commanders
· MoD backs ban on military personnel selling stories
by Richard Norton-Taylor

A secret report on the seizure of 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines by Iranian forces has uncovered bad intelligence, inadequate training, confused communications and poor judgment by senior military commanders.

The conclusions are part of an internal Ministry of Defence inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the capture of the sailors by Iranian revolutionary guards in the northern Gulf in March. The defence secretary, Des Browne, skirted around the unpublished report yesterday when he presented the findings of a separate study on the media handling of the affair.

The incident was described yesterday by Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, the first sea lord, as "one bad day in our proud 400-year history." The navy personnel were shown on television before being released in a propaganda coup exploited to the full by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The humiliation was compounded by the navy's decision, accepted by the MoD, to allow the sailors and marines to sell their stories to the media.

The findings presented by Mr Browne yesterday said that serving military personnel should be banned from making money this way, a recommendation accepted by the MoD. The seizure by the Iranians of the naval boarding party, which had just inspected an innocent merchant ship close to, but not in, Iranian waters, was "about judgment, not about kit", Sir Jonathon said yesterday.

He insisted that the rules of engagement were not at fault, and that there was nothing wrong with the Lynx helicopter which had returned to the mother ship, HMS Cornwall, during the boarding operation.

The separate unpublished report into the incident, drawn up by Lieutenant General Sir Rob Fulton, governor of Gibraltar and a former head of the Royal Marines, will be kept secret for operational reasons, said Mr Browne, though it has been given in confidence to the Commons defence committee. Sir Jonathon said it pointed to a "collective failure" in what he called a "very complex, fast-moving operational context".

Mr Browne told MPs that Gen Fulton noted the "need for improvements in the handling of intelligence, in communications, in doctrine, and in training, both individual and collective".

...


Pertinent Links:

1) Navy mistakes are blamed for capture of hostages by Iran

2) The errors that let Iran seize 15 crew members