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.
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The Mirror reports that this operation comes soon after HMS Portland participated in NATO's first ever submarine-hunting exercise - a large and joint endeavour which has proved a helpful prelude for this variation 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 president Vladimir Putin sent out nuclear submarines to the North Atlantic in March this year, just one day following his chilling threats to the West, and weeks after the ongoing invasion of Ukraine began. Each of said submarines were reportedly capable of carrying up to 16 ballistic missiles.
Last year, the UK's Secretary of Defence spoke publicly regarding the tracking of Russian submarines - which were found to be stalking the Great British coast. Ben Wallace admitted that Moscow was Britain's 'number one adversary threat' and accused Russia of carrying out a "number of operations deliberately at Britain".
He added: "We're regularly visited by nosy Russian ships, and we are regularly visited now by a number of Russian warships."
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