Category Archives: Royal Navy

Royal Navy shadows Russian ships after ‘high activity’ in Channel

Posted on by

Seven ships remained off UK coast for unusually long time this month

Nine Royal Navy ships were involved in a major operation shadowing seven Russian vessels who had lingered in the Channel for several days this month as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to worsen in the UK.

The unusually high level of Russian activity concluded about a week and a half ago and navy officials said they believed it was primarily a response to western exercises in Europe rather than to a perception that the disease was leaving the UK vulnerable.

Continue reading...

Royal Navy ship shadows Russian vessel through Channel

Posted on by

HMS Forth deployed to accompany the Vasily Bykov navy patrol ship through UK waters

A Royal Navy patrol ship has been deployed to shadow a Russian ship through the Channel.

Portsmouth-based HMS Forth had just returned to UK waters from her first foreign port visit when it was scrambled to monitor the Russian patrol ship Vasily Bykov.

A Navy spokesman said: “Forth had departed Gibraltar on 31 July, before heading north at speed and conducting heavy weather trials before a quick logistics stop in Devonport.

“She then sailed and positioned herself ready to meet the Vasily Bykov as the vessel sailed from the North Sea having taken part in Russia’s Navy Days celebration in St Petersburg.”

HMS Forth’s executive officer Lt Samuel Fields said: “It has been a particularly busy time for HMS Forth as we generate for deployed operations and continue to test our ship’s capabilities.

“I am proud of the ship’s company for rising to this additional challenge.”

The Vasily Bykov was previously shadowed by HMS Forth through the UK’s area of interest last month.

Frigate HMS Westminster was also deployed during the weekend to shadow the Chinese warship Xian up the Channel.

Continue reading...

‘Do not put your life in danger’: Iran reveals exchange with UK warship – audio

Posted on by

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have released audio of an exchange in which a UK warship is told not to intervene in the capture of a British-flagged tanker on 19 July. Iranian commandos seized the Stena Impero near the strait of Hormuz two weeks after British forces captured an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar over concerns it was defying EU sanctions by transporting oil to Syria

Continue reading...

UK to send a second warship to the Gulf amid crisis with Iran

Posted on by

MoD says destroyer will be deployed within days to protect British commercial oil tankers

The UK is stepping up its military presence in the Gulf by sending a second warship to the region to protect British commercial oil tankers, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The HMS Duncan, a Type 45 destroyer, will be deployed within days after it completed a course of Nato exercises in the Baltic Sea with the aim to be in the Gulf region by next week.

Continue reading...

UK ships in Gulf on high alert after Royal Navy trains guns on Iranian vessels

Posted on by

Fears commercial vessels at risk from gunboats following HMS Montrose’s intervention

British ships operating in the Gulf have been put on the highest state of alert amid fears that UK-flagged commercial vessels are vulnerable to attack by Iranian gunboats.

The change in guidance from the British government, changing the alert to level 3, was made on Tuesday, a day before a Royal Navy warship trained its guns on Iranian gunboats that tried to disrupt the passage of an Isle of Man-flagged vessel. Level 3 is described as equivalent to the domestic security classification of critical in which there is an imminent risk of an incident.

Continue reading...

MoD criticised over £500m cost of storing obsolete submarines

Posted on by

Failure puts UK’s reputation as responsible nuclear power at risk, auditors say

Storage of obsolete nuclear submarines has cost the UK taxpayer £500m because of “dismal” failings in the government’s nuclear decommissioning programme, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.

The Ministry of Defence has twice as many submarines in storage as it does in service and has not disposed of any of the 20 vessels decommissioned since 1980, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

Continue reading...

Spanish warship orders Gibraltar boats to leave British waters

Posted on by

Royal Navy sends boats after threat to commercial vessels anchored off UK territory

A Spanish warship has ordered commercial vessels to leave British waters, Gibraltar’s government said.

The warship’s crew can be heard in an audio recording of a radio exchange on Sunday telling vessels anchored at the Rock to “leave Spanish territorial waters”. Royal Navy boats were deployed in response to the incident.

Continue reading...

Williamson accused of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ over China warship threat

Posted on by

Philip Hammond’s planned trip to Beijing reportedly scuppered by defence secretary’s remarks

Philip Hammond is not going to China this weekend for trade talks, following reports that Beijing scuppered advanced preparations for a meeting after the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, threatened to deploy a warship in the Pacific.

The UK chancellor was expected to meet the Chinese vice premier, Hu Chunhua, but Treasury sources said the trip was never confirmed. It is believed that there is an internal row brewing between the Treasury and the defence department over Williamson’s remarks, which the former chancellor George Osborne described as a throwback to an era of “gunboat diplomacy”.

Continue reading...

France steps up efforts to prevent Channel crossings

Posted on by

French authorities to improve cooperation with UK and increase coastal surveillance

The French authorities have set out plans to prevent people in small boats risking the dangerous Channel crossing to England.

Measures being taken include improved cooperation between law enforcement agencies and more surveillance and security on beaches along the northern French coastline.

Continue reading...