Sir Galahad, the first British supply ship, carrying aid to Iraq (650 tonnes of food, medicine and fresh water) finally docked at the southern port of Umm Qasr. A minesweeper, few patrol boats, helicopters and hovercraft escorted the vessel indicating that the shipping channel was still not safe for business. The ship had been delayed by the discovery of mines in the channel raising fears that humanitarian aid of vital food and water supplies will not be able to reach the Iraqi people in time and increase the chances of a crisis.

Earlier, a Kuwaiti gunboat had challenged a flotilla of about two-dozen Iraqi dhows, suspected of laying mines off the mouth of the river Khawr al-Zubayr, south of the port of Umm Qasr. The US Fifth Fleet’s Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO) based in Bahrain had alerted merchant shipping that Iraqi naval units/ sympathizers might lay mines or engage in suicide attacks in Gulf waters during the war. This followed the attempted suicide mission by a cargo vessel that came within 800 yards of RFA Sir Bedivere, a coalition fleet auxiliary. The standoff ended after USS Ardent chased the suspected vessel.

Although, a large proportion of the Iraqi navy was destroyed during the 1991 Gulf War, a handful of patrol craft (these have now been destroyed by the coalition forces) were in service along with some 150 small boats. The MARLO advisory also urged mariners to alert the coalition navies of any suspicious activity by smaller vessels or any vessel being forced to lay mines by the Iraqi military. These fears were proved right with the discovery of three tugboats carrying “contactâ€Â