Russian submarine shadowed by Royal Navy through English Channel
The Russian vessels sailed westward from the North Sea through the Strait of Dover and into the English Channel
A Russian submarine has been shadowed by the Royal Navy in a three-day operation through storm-hit weather in the English Channel.
Listen to this article
Marchwood-based support ship RFA Tidesurge with a Merlin helicopter onboard was deployed to keep watch on the Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar and accompanying tug boat Altay.
The Russian vessels sailed westward from the North Sea through the Strait of Dover and into the English Channel.
Captain James Allen, commanding officer of RFA Tidesurge, said: “There is nothing like a Russian submarine to focus the mind for any mariner.”
Lieutenant Commander David Emery, flight commander of 814 Naval Air Squadron’s Atlantic Flight, said: “Maintaining an overt presence and continued overwatch of Russian vessels in UK waters is vital for national security.”
As the submarine, which sailed on the surface despite the weather conditions, arrived near the island of Ushant, north-west of France, the Tidesurge and the helicopter, which stayed onboard for the duration of the operation, handed over the monitoring duty to a Nato ally.
The shadowing comes after Portsmouth-based patrol ship HMS Mersey, a Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron and a specialist submarine-hunting Merlin aircraft from 824 Naval Air Squadron were involved in shadowing Russian submarine Novorossiysk as it sailed west through UK waters in July.
On Thursday, NATO chief Mark Rutte has warned its member states are "Russia's next target" as he called on the bloc to prepare for a conflict on the scale of the Second World War.
Speaking at a security conference in Berlin, Mr Rutte said NATO is firmly in the Kremlin's sights as he suggested we could be heading for war on a scale not seen since the 1940s.
"We are Russia's next target," he warned.
"I fear that too many are quietly complacent.
"Too many don't feel the urgency, and too many believe that time is on our side. It is not.
"The time for action is now."
In a final, stark warning for the bloc's members, Mr Rutte said Russia will be ready to wage war on NATO within the next five years.
Earlier this week Defence Secretary John Healey announced Atlantic Bastion, a new multimillion-pound hi-tech force to protect undersea cables and pipelines from the threat of Russian submarines.
This came after the Ministry of Defence said there had been a 30 per cent rise in Russian vessels “threatening” UK waters in the past two years.
The UK also earlier this month signed the Lunna House defence pact with Norway to protect undersea cables from the Russian threat.