The Overseas Territories and the Military, connections past and present

The British Overseas Territories, the remnants of the Empire, are key to the British military's purpose and operations. It is often forgotten that the responsibility of the UK Armed Forces is not just to defend the United Kingdom itself, but equally to defend its 14 territories (and 3 dependencies). Most of the territories are British because of the exploration and colonization of the Royal Navy, and due to their nature as (mostly) islands, remained key naval outposts. And today many still play a valuable role in the operations of the Royal Navy, and to a greater extent the Royal Air Force.

The British Armed Forces are a large part of the past, and for a few the present, of the Overseas Territories and below these connections are explored for each territory.


The peninsular of Gibraltar, with its iconic rock, is a symbol of Britain's strategic military power, and its British origins are a symbol of British military's success. In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, an Anglo-Dutch fleet from the 'Grand Alliance' captured Gibraltar on behalf of Archduke Charles of Austria in his attempt to gain the Spanish Crown. As the alliance's campaign faltered, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ceded Britain control of Gibraltar in return for Britain's withdrawal from the war. The seizure of Gibraltar was an historically significant event, and this achievement is marked by the word 'Gibraltar' appearing on the Royal Marines' badge. In 1727 and in 1779 the Spanish made attempts to take back Gibraltar, but just as their modern day diplomatic attempts, they failed.

British forces capturing Gibraltar in 1704

The Royal Navy unsurprisingly made Gibraltar a key base, which played an important role prior to Trafalgar (1805) and during the Crimean War (1854-56), due to its strategic location. And its value increased with the opening of the Suez Canal.

In World War II, after Gibraltar's civilian population was evacuated, Gibraltar was heavily fortified. The Rock was bombed by the Vichy French Air Force in 1940 in response to the British bombing the Vichy Navy. The naval base played a valuable role provisioning and supplying Malta as it was sieged by Axis powers, and aircraft flying from Gibraltar also supported the campaign in Malta. Nazi forced proposed a plan to capture the peninsular - Operation Felix, but due to Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's reluctance for Spain to join the war, the plan could not go ahead as it relied on German forced moving through Spain.

Today, Gibraltar is still valuable to the military, with all three services maintaining a presence there.
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment, composed of Regular and Reserve soldiers from Gibraltar and rest of the UK, represents the British Army's permanent presence on the Rock. Providing ceremonial duties, and ordinary soldiering roles, the 'Barbarians' as they're known have supplied men for operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and the Middle East.

The Royal Navy also maintains a permanent presence in Gibraltar. The 'Gibraltar Squadron' is responsible for the security of Gibraltar's Territorial Waters, home to two armed Scimitar class patrol boats HMS Scimitar and HMS Sabre along with 3 RHIBS, which operate alongside the marine unit of the Gibraltar Defence Police. The Gibraltar Squadron and Defence Police frequently intercept Spanish naval ships trespassing in Gibraltarian waters, something that has become an increasing problem. The Naval dockyard, on the west side of the peninsular, is frequently visited by British and US ships and submarines, for resupply and (non-nuclear) repair.

HMS Scimitar (front), based with the Royal Gibraltar Squadron, accompanying HMS Bulwark (back)

The RAF also operate an airfield in Gibraltar, above the rock near the Spanish border, stretching into the sea. There are no aircraft stationed at RAF Gibraltar, but British and NATO military aircraft frequently use it for stopovers. The runway, owned by the MOD, is also used for the Gibraltar International Airport.


The other Mediterranean territory is the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, on Cyprus. When the island gained independence in 1960, the British retained 2 areas to be kept for military purposes - Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The borders of the Sovereign Base Areas were drawn up to avoid centers of population, but there are a few thousand native Cypriots living within the boundaries, with the rest of the population being British military personnel and their families. Unlike most of the other territories, the SBAs are administered by the military, with the commander of British Forces Cyprus also being the 'Administrator', a role alternating every three years between the RAF and the Army. The SBAs are home to two infantry battalions, signals intelligence stations and the important airbase of RAF Akrotiri. There are also many British military sites within the Republic of Cyprus linked to the SBAs.

A Tornado landing at RAF Akrotiri

Today, units based in the SBAs contribute to UN peacekeeping operations between the North and South of Cyprus. But by far the most famous operation from the territory is Operation Shader, the ongoing series of airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Tornado jets and Reaper drones from RAF Akrotiri have conducted over 1,276 strikes since 2014, killing over 3,000 terrorists. Currently, after the 10 Tornadoes left this week, there are 10 Typhoons, 1 Voyager Tanker and 2 Hercules along with the Reaper Drones, but these numbers will change soon as the Tornado leaves service and the Typhoon and possibly the Lighting takes over its role. These strikes, as well as the 2018 Strikes against Syrian government chemical weapons facilities, have brought much fame to the Sovereign Base Areas, and have shown there enduring importance.


Moving across the Atlantic, the island of Bermuda is by far one of the most well known British Territories. It became English when the crown took over the company that administered it in 1684, becoming British at the same time as Scotland in 1707. After the US War of Independence, Bermuda was made the Western Atlantic Headquarters of the Royal Navy. However following the War of 1812 the militias were disbanded. During both World Wars the island was key to Allies' war efforts due to its isolated, mid-Atlantic position. In 1940 the UK granted Base Rights in Bermuda to the US. The US Air Force, and later Navy, operated an airbase along with a Naval Facility throughout the Cold War, closing in 1995 following the collapse of the the USSR and end of the Cold War. The Royal Navy's dockyard was closed after WWII, but a small supply base, HMS Malabar, continued to operate until 1995.

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inspects a Bermuda Regiment  guard of honour

Today, the only remaining troops on Bermuda are the Royal Bermuda Regiment, the home defence unit of island, independent from the British Armed Forces. All balloted males on the island are conscripted to serve in the Regiment for three years once they turn 18. Ultimately though, the responsibility to defend Bermuda lies with the British Armed Forces.


The five Overseas Territories in the Caribbean have the least to do with the military. Turks and Caicos wasn't colonized by military force, and hasn't ever had any major military presence. In 2017 though, Royal Marines of Charlie Company, 40 Commando, along with specialists from the RN and RAF went to the islands to help in the relief effort after Hurricane Irma. The Cayman Islands also have very little connection with the Armed Forces, having been handed over from Spain in a treaty in 1670. The British Virgin Islands also have little link to the Military, and again Royal Marines and others came to the island after Hurricane Irma, greatly helping aid efforts. The volcanic island of Montserrat also, you've guessed it, has little connection to the military, however after the eruption of the island's Soufriere Hills Volcano in 1995, Type 42 Destroyer HMS Liverpool played a major role evacuating residents to neighbouring islands such as Antigua and Barbuda, in an effort which saw the evacuation of around 7,000 people. The small island of Anguilla have slightly more interesting links to the military than the other Caribbean territories. In the 1960s after being given semi independence as part of St. Kitts, Anguilla then declared independence from St. Kitts. With the islands future in dispute, on 19 March 1969 a contingent of 2nd Battalion the parachute Regiment, along with 40 Metropolitan Police Officers, peacefully landed on the island to 'restore order'. In the autumn the troops withdrew and Army engineers were brought in to  improve public works. The British commissioner returned and Anguilla was disassociated from St. Kitts and made a separate British Dependency.

Royal Marines in the British Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma

The British Islands in the middle of the South Atlantic make up the territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, one territory although administered separately due to the great distances between them. Saint Helena is the most famous of the group, mainly because of a certain small Frenchman. In 1815 St. Helena was selected as the place where the defeated Napoleon Bonaparte would be detained. Guarded constantly by troops and ships, his imprisonment was thanks to caused by and maintained by the military. After his death, St. Helena remained a strategic colony. In 1840 a Naval station was established on the island to suppress the transatlantic slave trade, with over 15,00 freed slaves landing on the island from 1840-1849.

A painting of Napoleon, standing on the coast of St. Helena, his island prison

Ascension Island, my personal favourite British island, has a history intertwined with the military. It was originally a common anchoring spot for ships travelling up or down the Atlantic, with the local sea turtles providing perfect sources of food for passing ships. In 1815 after Napoleon was imprisoned on Saint Helena, Ascension (northwest of St Helena) was garrisoned by the British as a precaution in case of French attempts to rescue him. The island was designated a stone frigate, HMS Ascension. The island was used to supply Royal Navy ships, particularly from the West Africa Squadron working against the slave trade. A garrison of Royal Marines was based there in 1823. In 1941, during WWII, a German U-Boat was spotted off the coast of the capital Georgetown. Fort Bedford, a shore establishment, fired on the U-boat with guns taken from the famous HMS Hood during a refit. The guns missed but the U-Boat was never seen again.

Guns from the famous battlecruiser HMS Hood still stand (although no longer in use), over Georgetown, Ascension

In 1942 the US were given permission to build an airbase on Ascension, named Wideawake airfield. It was used by more than 25,000 aircraft as a staging point during the war. The airfield was abandoned though at the end of the was and fell into disuse. In the 1960s the runway was used again by the US, at a time when it was the longest runway in the world, as an emergency runway for the space shuttle, although fortunately never used. It was re-garrisoned by the RAF in 1982, for extensive use during the Falklands War as a staging post. Operation Black Buck was launched from Ascension, which involved a fleet of Vulcan bombers and Victor tankers traveling all the way to the Falklands and back, to bomb the Argentinian controlled airport. The base was used to resupply the task group, with up to 400 movements of various types each day, making it one of the busiest airfields in the world. Following the war, the British established a permanent base on the island, RAF Ascension. The island also hosts one of the four ground antennas for GPS, it also hosts a join NSA-GCHQ facility. Today, RAF Ascension continues as a staging post for flights to the Falklands for military and civilian passengers, jointly operated by the RAF and USAF.

Aircraft at RAF Ascension during the Falklands War

The final island in the group is Tristan da Cunha, which was annexed by the British in 1816 to stop it becoming a base for the French to rescue Napoleon. During WWII the island was designated a stone frigate, HMS Atlantic Isle, used as a secret signals intelligence station to monitor Nazi U-Boats. In 1957 it was visited by Prince Philip as part of a world tour on HMY Britannia.


When you think of the Falkland Islands, you think of the military. After changing hands between the British, French and Spanish, British and Spanish settlements coexisted, with the British, followed by the Spanish, eventually withdrawing from the islands. Years later, what is now Argentina claimed the islands, and allowed a German merchant to establish a colony. But after a dispute with a US Navy ship over fishing rights, the US Navy declared the dissolution of the island's government. Argentina attempted to regain control by establishing a garrison, but after a mutiny in 1832 British forces returned and established Britain's rule over the islands. The islands remained British for 150 years, and the islanders, sheep and penguins lived in relative peace. But in 1982, they were captured in an Argentinian invasion. I won't go into details of the war as they are commonly known. But to sum it up, it ended in a decisive victory for the Royal Navy. One of the most iconic events in post war British military history. The heroism of those who fought and retook the island so quickly lead to not just a victory for our armed forces and our country, but a victory for the idea of democracy and self-determination.

A famous image of a soldier carrying the Union Flag during the conflict of 1982

Today, all three services have a permanent presence on the islands. The British Army maintains a garrison based at Mount Pleasant. With roughly 1,200 personnel made up of an infantry company, an engineer squadron, a signals unit and other supporting services. The Royal Artillery operate Rapier ant-air missile systems to protect the islands from aerial attack. RAF Mount Pleasant, the Royal Air Force's base on the islands, was built in 1985 with capability for large aircraft. The complex includes the longest corridor in the world, nicknamed 'Death Star Corridor' which is a whopping half a mile long (800m). Currently, 4 Typhoons, 1 Voyager Tanker, 1 Atlas and 2 Chinooks are stationed at Mount Pleasant, ensuring the Falklands are always ready to be defended.

HMS Clyde with some penguins in the Falklands

RAF Mount Pleasant also has a port facility, Mare Harbor. An offshore patrol vessel, currently HMS Clyde, is permanently based there to ensure naval defense of the islands. In the near future Clyde will be replaced by HMS Forth, a new Batch 2 River-class OPV. Icebreaker HMS Protector also regularly visits the islands.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands also played an important part in the Falklands conflict. One of the major triggers of the war was when on March 19 1982, a group of Argentinians raised their flag on South Georgia, claiming the island for their country. The island was annexed on the second day of the war by Argentine naval forces. The islands were recaptured early on in the war, on the 25 April 1982, in Operation Paraquet. Special forces retook South Georgia in a decisive early victory, leading Margaret Thatcher to previously declare "Rejoice!"

The Antarctic Territory bans the use of Antarctica for military purposes, therefore there's not much to say about the British Antarctic Territory in relation to the military. But the icebreaker HMS Protector spends much of the year there, doing research work with the British Antarctic Survey.

HMS Protector off the British Antarctic Territory

The Pitcairn Islands is another territory with origins in the military. Pitcairn was named after 15-year old Royal Navy Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, who first spotted them in 1767. But there settlement came 13 years later after the famous tale of the mutiny on the bounty. After the uprising against Captain Bligh on HMS Bounty, 9 mutineers and the Tahitian men and women with them settled on Pitcairn and set fire to the Bounty. The Royal Navy searched for the mutineers over the next few years, but in 1808 it was an American ship that discovered the mutineers, with the crew spending 10 hours ashore with them. The discovery was forwarded to the Admiralty, but when the Navy reached the islands in 1814, only one mutineer was still alive, who was then cleared of his crimes. The descendants of the mutineers remained on the islands, and are still there today. In January 2019, HMS Montrose stopped at Pitcairn whilst crossing the Pacific, a rare naval visit for the 50 islanders.

The mutiny on HMS Bounty

The British Indian Ocean Territory is, like the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, centred around the military. Similar to the situation in Cyprus, in the 1960s when Mauritius gained independence, the UK kept control of the Chagos Archipelagos for military purposes. A US Airbase and Naval Facility was built on the largest atoll Diego Garcia. To allow this to happen, the local population was forcibly removed from the islands, moved to Mauritius and the UK, the locals still campaign today for their right to return to the islands. Today, the US airbase is still highly important, with bombers based there in the 2000s for operations in the Middle East. The locals have recently taken the case of their removal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The atoll of Diego Garcia, with the US airfield in the top right