A Royal Navy warship was forced to scramble two Russian submarines as they sailed into the North Sea.
British submarine hunter HMS Portland was on watch as cruise missile submarine Severodvinsk and Akula-class attack submarine Vepr made their underwater journey south, along the Norwegian coast from the Arctic.
The frigate shadowed the submarines as they surfaced separately in the North Sea, north west of Bergen, Norway, on July 16 and 19, the Royal Navy announced in a release on Friday.
NATO and Baltic forces took over duties as they continued to St Petersburg for Russian Navy Day celebrations on July 31.
The movements of the Russian North Fleet vessels were reported on by Portland and Merlin, her specialist helicopter, both of which are equipped with cutting-edge sonars, sensors and torpedoes for submarine-hunting operations.
The P8 Poseidon, one of the RAF’s new long-range maritime patrol aircraft, also worked closely with HMS Portland to hunt and track the submarines.
This operation comes soon after HMS Portland took part in NATO’s premiere submarine-hunting exercise.
This large scale joint exercise proved to be a helpful prelude for this type of live operation.
HMS Portland’s Commanding Officer, Commander Tim Leeder, said: “Our success on operations marks the culmination of many months of specialist training and exercises.
"Critically, the cohesiveness of Royal Navy, RAF and our allies capabilities ensures that we are capable of conducting and sustaining these types of anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic.
“It is testament to my sailors’ dedication and professionalism, alongside that of our allies, that we are able to conduct this strategically crucial role.”
Russian leader Vladimir Putin sent nuclear submarines into the North Atlantic in March this year, just one day after his chilling threat to the West and weeks after his invasion of Ukraine.
Each of the Russian submarines were reportedly capable of carrying 16 ballistic missiles.
Last year the UK's Defence Secretary spoke out about tracking Russian submarines which were stalking the UK coast.
Ben Wallace admitted Moscow was Britain's "number one adversary threat".
Russia has been carrying out "a number of operations, deliberately at Britain" he said.
He added: "We're regularly visited by nosy Russian ships, and we are regularly visited now by a number of Russian warships."
