The United States has launched its war on Iraq with strikes on Baghdad. Explosions rocked the city at first light yesterday, about 90 minutes after the US deadline for Saddam Hussein to go into exile.
Silence on warships as first missiles fly
Officers on board HMS Ark Royal, Britain's flagship carrier, watched in silence as the first US missiles roared overhead towards Iraq early yesterday.
Lieutenant Nick Palethorpe, an officer of the watch on the bridge of the ship, said the call came in about 20 minutes before launch to expect a salvo of outgoing cruise missiles from a US warship nearby.
"All we saw was this massive white flash, a really bright white flash," he said.
"It was quite a sombre mood on the bridge. Everyone just watching it, just taking stock of it really. It was unusually quiet."
Below decks in the operations room, crew said they tracked the outbound missiles on their radar then watched television news to see where they would land.
A projection TV screen was set up in the officers' dining room allowing them to watch the news over breakfast.
The mood on board Britain's flagship has been businesslike as war comes ever closer.
The shipboard bar was shut on Wednesday and crew were ordered to begin taking anti-chemical weapons tablets.
The ship's main role is to carry an amphibious task force of Royal Marines who can land by boat or helicopter in southern Iraq. The marines have been preparing their gear in the aircraft hangar and getting final haircuts ahead of a likely move ashore.
Breakdown of forces
The United States and Britain deployed about 280,000 military personnel in the Gulf region in the run-up to the military campaign that began with air strikes near Baghdad early yesterday.
Following is a breakdown of the main deployments.
Navy: There are six aircraft carriers - five American and one British - within striking distance of Iraq, bringing to nearly 500 the number of US naval and Air Force warplanes near Iraq.
The US carriers Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln and Constellation are in or near the Gulf and the Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman are in the Mediterranean.
A sixth US carrier, the Nimitz, left San Diego on March 3 headed for the Gulf, leading a battle group of six warships. The group carries about 8,500 personnel.
US carriers typically deploy about 75 planes including about 50 attack aircraft. Each warship is shepherded by half a dozen or so cruisers, destroyers and submarines with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Nearly 800 additional medical staff have been ordered to join the US Navy hospital ship Comfort which is also in the region, bringing it up to its 1,000-bed capacity.
Some 13 missile-firing US navy vessels, including at least three attack submarines, have passed through the Suez Canal since last Friday to join more than 60 other US ships already arrayed in the Gulf region.
US personnel: Nearly 100,000 US army soldiers and marines are in Kuwait.
About 10 ships with equipment for the Fourth Infantry Division, comprising about 30,000 soldiers, have been waiting off Turkey awaiting a decision by Ankara on whether to let them deploy on its soil for a possible northern front against Iraq.
As of March 12, the Pentagon had mobilised 188,592 reservists, many of whom are heading to the Gulf.
Central command: US Central Command chief General Tommy Franks has his headquarters near Al-Udeid air base in Qatar. The mobile "CentCom" command post is staffed by more than 1,000 US communications personnel and several hundred British counterparts.
Air bases: Several radar-avoiding F-117A stealth attack jets are now doing practice flights at Al-Udeid.
US B-52 bombers began arriving in Britain in recent days. Other B-52s along with B-1 bombers are already in the Gulf.
B-52 and B-1 long-range bombers and radar-avoiding B-2 stealth bombers are also stationed on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
The US Air Force has sent F-15C fighters, F-15E attack jets, F-16 fighters, A-10 attack jets, Predator unmanned spy planes and radar aircraft.
The United States has bases in Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.
British forces: Some 45,000 personnel, including Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, have been committed. The Ministry of Defence said on March 13 the "majority" had reached the Gulf.
The main British ground fighting force numbers some 26,000 and will be led by one UK Armoured Division headquarters, deployed with one of its three brigades.
At sea, Britain has sent a 16-ship naval flotilla carrying 4,000 Royal Marines, plus a Fleet Submarine.
The naval fleet, manned by 4,000 sailors, is led by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal loaded with troop-carrying helicopters rather than fixed-wing jets.
Britain's Royal Air Force component in the Gulf numbers 100 fixed-wing aircraft - including Hercules transport aircraft, Tornado and Harrier jets - supported by about 7,000 personnel.