Cardigan Bay has been deployed as part of the Royal Navy Response Force Task Group, carrying elements of
40 Commando. In June 2011, the vessel headed to
Yemen to aid with the potential evacuation of British citizens affected by the ongoing
unrest in the country. In July 2011, she docked at
Berbera, and a landing craft from
Cardigan Bay landed two
BvS 10 Viking armoured vehicles and Royal Marines of
539 Assault Squadron in
Somaliland. They penetrated several miles of "bandit country" to meet up with an important clan chief and take him back to
Cardigan Bay for a meeting with
MI6 and
Foreign Office officials. This was part of Exercise Somaliland Cougar, an operation to train Somali coastguards in anti-piracy techniques and to establish relationships with tribal leaders. In 2013,
Cardigan Bay exercised with the COUGAR 13 task group. While east of Suez,
Cardigan Bay participated in several exercises including IMCMEX 2014. Upon her return to the UK,
Cardigan Bay underwent a major refit in Falmouth followed by sea trials and FOST in April 2017 in preparation for deployment later in the year. By June 2017,
Cardigan Bay was back in the Indian Ocean and assisted in the rescue of a crewman from the sunken tanker
Rama 2. For the past number of years,
Cardigan Bay has been the support ship usually based at supporting Royal Navy mine countermeasures operations as part of
Operation Kipion. In May 2021, she was temporarily relieved in that role by . In May 2022 it was reported that the ship had completed refit in Falmouth and was earmarked to return to the
Persian Gulf, replacing
Lyme Bay. In February 2023, the autonomous minehunting vessel RNMB
Harrier arrived in Bahrain to begin trials of autonomous systems in hot weather. The autonomous vessel was intended to operate from
Cardigan Bay. In 2023, it was reported that
Cardigan Bay would eventually be replaced in her mine countermeasures support role by ships that would be acquired and converted into an MCM command and support role for autonomous systems in the RFA. One of these ships was reported as likely to replace
Cardigan Bay and some of the other vessels in
9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron.
Cardigan Bay would then be returned to a primary amphibious operations role. In April 2024,
Cardigan Bay deployed to the Mediterranean to assist in the delivery of humanitarian supplies to
Gaza during the
Gaza war. American soldiers and sailors working on building the
Gaza floating pier were reported to use
Cardigan Bay as a dormitory. In August 2024, it was reported that
Cardigan Bay was returning to the U.K. for refit and was being replaced in the Mediterranean by
RFA Mounts Bay. The vessel returned to the U.K. in early September. However, due to acute personnel shortages and labour action by RFA sailors over low pay, the movement of the vessel to the Falmouth shipyard for refit was delayed. In October, she was transferred to Falmouth to await refit. Although reported in dry dock for refit in February 2025, it was subsequently reported that her refit would not begin until 2026. Her refit was then reported to have been initiated as of April 2026. ==Citations==