The song was accompanied by an anti-war music video directed by John Hardwick, edited by Quin Williams and produced by Mike Wells through London-based production company Helen Langridge Associates (HLA). It was the first of Blur's videos to not feature the band members themselves in any way, consisting entirely of footage from a 2002 BBC "Correspondent" documentary depicting life aboard the United States aircraft carrier USS "Abraham Lincoln" on duty in the Persian Gulf. Produced and directed by Anthony Makin, shot by Brian Green and Dale Rodkin and edited by Karen O'Connor, "Warship" was filmed in October 2002 and premiered 1 December 2002 on BBC Two. Hardwick got the idea to use the documentary footage for the music video while watching the film. He showed the band a reference tape cut to fit the song in early February 2003. Blur decided to release it as the finished video. It premiered on 10 March.