A British Royal Navy warship was forced to track two Russian submarines, which had sailed into the North Sea. Submarine hunter HMS Portland was on hand as cruise missile sub Severodvinsk and Akula-class attack submarine Vepr made their journey underwater towards the south - along the Norwegian coast from the Arctic.
The Royal Navy announced that the frigate shadowed the submarines as they surfaced separately within the North Sea, north west of Bergen in Norway on July 16 and 19. Shortly afterwards, NATO and Baltic forces took over duties - as the subs continued to St Petersburg for Russian Navy Day celebrations, which is set to take place on July 31.
The movements of said North Fleet vessels were reported on by Portland and Merlin, her specialist helicopter, both of which are equipped with cutting-edge sonars and sensors, as well as being armed with torpedoes for specialist submarine hunting operations. The P8 Poseidon, which is one of the RAF's new long-range maritime patrol aircrafts also assisted in the hunting and tracking of the pair of submarines.
