The Untold Battles

A US Navy SH-60 Seahawk provides aerial security for the supertanker AbQaiq in 2003. British maritime agency UKMTO reported three tankers struck in the Strait of Hormuz this week. (File photograph; US Navy, public domain) Three Tankers Struck by Unknown Projectiles in Strait of Hormuz, UKMTO Reports Britain's maritime trade operations centre has reported that three tankers were struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, in a fresh escalation of the attacks on shipping passing through the world's most important oil waterway. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, UKMTO, said on Wednesday that the three vessels had each been struck the previous day. It described one as a crude oil tanker and one as an LNG tanker, before later clarifying its description of the second vessel. The incident was published as UKMTO Warning 146. Key facts What happened: Three ships were "struck by an unknown projectile" in the southern part of the Strai...

A Challenger 3 main battle tank on display during Project Hermod 2. (Ministry of Defence image released under the Open Government Licence) Key facts The Ministry of Defence has placed the £800 million Challenger 3 programme under a formal review of performance, with reapproval expected during the 2026-27 financial year. Minister for Defence Readiness Luke Pollard told Parliament the Armour Main Battle Tank Programme is "subject to an ongoing review of programme performance and a related reapproval process". Initial operating capability remains planned for 2027, but specialist defence reporting says the date is in doubt after engineering problems and earlier delays. The upgrade converts 148 Challenger 2 tanks with a new turret, a 120mm smoothbore gun, Trophy active protection and modernised digital systems. The MOD says there is an "enduring requirement" for a main battle tank, but no decision has been taken on what follows Challenger 3 in the 2040s. The Brit...

The Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry. Imperial War Museum collection (HU69722), public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Few military honours carry the weight of the Victoria Cross. It is the highest award in the British honours system, reserved for "most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy." Since Queen Victoria created it during the Crimean War it has been awarded just 1,358 times. This is how it came to exist, what it is made of, and the recipients who stand apart in such rare company. Key facts The Victoria Cross was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856 and backdated to 1854 to cover the Crimean War. The first awards were presented by Queen Victoria at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857, 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients invested on the day. It has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individuals, and can be won by a person of any rank in an...

A US Air Force B-52H takes off from RAF Fairford in November 2024. The base in Gloucestershire is operated by the US military. (File photograph). Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there are "strong indications" that Iran played a part in the security incident that saw five men arrested near RAF Fairford at the weekend. The statement, made in a series of broadcast interviews on Wednesday, is the first time Britain has publicly pointed the finger at Tehran over the incident at the US-operated airbase in Gloucestershire. "There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation," Burnham told the BBC. "And of course, we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America." Key facts Five British men in their 20s were arrested on Sunday near the perimeter of RAF Fairford on suspicion of explosives offences an...

Thames House on Millbank, the London headquarters of MI5, the UK's Security Service. (Photograph: Iridescenti, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.) MI5 Issues Espionage Alert Over Chinese Institute Using UK University Research Britain's domestic intelligence service has accused China of running a research institute as a front for spying, warning that more than 100 UK-based academics have unknowingly contributed to work that improved Beijing's espionage capability. The unprecedented public warning was issued by MI5 on Wednesday in the form of an "Espionage Alert". The service says it is the first time it has independently published an alert of this kind. The alert names the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), an organisation MI5 says has "very strong ties" to China's Ministry of State Security, Beijing's civilian intelligence service. Key facts MI5 says more than 100 UK-based academics have contributed to projects funde...

Two RAF Tornado GR4s over Iraq in September 2014, at the start of Britain's air campaign against Islamic State. This is a file photograph from the 2014 mission, not the withdrawal. (UK Ministry of Defence, via Wikimedia Commons, Open Government Licence.) Last British Troops Leave Iraq as Decade-Long Anti-IS Mission Ends The last British troops have left Iraq, closing a chapter that began when Islamic State swept across the country in 2014. Around 100 UK personnel withdrew from Irbil in the northern Kurdistan region on Wednesday, departing alongside their American counterparts as the US-led coalition formally ended its military mission in Iraq. The withdrawal marks the end of more than a decade of British military presence in Iraq and of the mission known as Operation Inherent Resolve. Iraq has declared a series of national "Sovereignty Days" to mark the departure. Key facts Around 100 remaining British personnel left Irbil on 30 September 2026, with their exit...

Map of Agricola's campaigns in northern Britain, AD 78-84. By Andjam, CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL via Wikimedia Commons. Nearly 1,940 years ago, a Roman army fought further north in Britain than any force had gone before. On a hillside somewhere in the north east of Scotland, it met the last great army of free Britons and broke it. In AD 83, the governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola led his army against a Caledonian confederacy led, at least in name, by a chief called Calgacus. The Romans won a crushing victory. Then, within a few short years, they walked away from almost everything they had gained. The Battle of Mons Graupius stands as Rome's northernmost battle and as a case study in winning the fight and losing the peace. Key facts Date: AD 83 (a minority of scholars argue for AD 84; the exact year is disputed). Location: north east Scotland. The precise site is unknown; the leading modern candidate is the foot of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Roman commander: Gnaeus Julius A...

Nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard arrives back at HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, Scotland, following a patrol. Photo: CPOA(Phot) Tam McDonald/MOD, licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0 via Wikimedia Commons (file photograph from 29 November 2010).   Babcock International has agreed a two-month extension to its Future Maritime Support Programme bridging agreement with the Ministry of Defence, keeping the Royal Navy's naval base and nuclear submarine support services running while the two sides finalise a longer-term deal. The defence company announced the extension in a regulatory statement on Wednesday morning, saying it will take effect from 1 October 2026. Key facts Babcock announced a two-month extension to the Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP) bridging agreement with the UK Ministry of Defence. The extension runs from 1 October 2026. It covers naval base operations and nuclear submarine fleet support services. The bridge buys time while Babcock and the MOD...

Andy Burnham with Emmanuel Macron at 10 Downing Street on 3 September 2026. The prime minister told the BBC on 30 September that rejoining the EU should be among the options Britain considers for its future relationship with the bloc. (File photograph, not from the interview.) Burnham Says Britain Should Weigh EU Options, Including Rejoining Andy Burnham has put rejoining the European Union on the table as a genuine option for Britain's future. Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday morning, the prime minister said the country should weigh up the different models for its long-term relationship with Europe and decide which one offered the best way forward. Then he named them: staying as Britain is, a customs union, the single market, or going all the way back into the bloc. It is the first time since the 2016 referendum that a sitting prime minister has raised rejoin as a live possibility. The remarks came a day after Burnham used his first Labour conference speech as leader to decl...

William Sharp's 1795 engraving after John Opie's painting "Boadicea Haranguing the Britons" - an 18th-century imagining of the queen rallying her people. No contemporary portrait of Boudica survives. Battle of Watling Street: How Rome Crushed Boudica's Revolt Around nineteen hundred years ago, a Roman army of perhaps 10,000 men stood its ground in a narrow valley somewhere in the English Midlands and destroyed one of the largest rebellions Britain has ever seen. The Battle of Watling Street, fought in AD 61 (or possibly AD 60; historians disagree on the year), ended Boudica's revolt in a single afternoon. Three Roman cities lay in ashes behind the rebels. None lay ahead of them. Yet for all its decisiveness, this is a battle wrapped in uncertainty: nobody knows exactly where it was fought, the year itself is disputed, and the casualty figures in the ancient accounts are almost certainly exaggerated. What follows is what we can say with confidence, and wher...