Royal Navy Tracks Four Russian Ships Through English Channel

HMS Iron Duke (background) with the Russian Kilo-class sub Novorossiysk (Royal Navy)

Last week, the Royal Navy dispatched assets to track four Russian Navy warships through the English Channel and the North Sea, monitoring their progress until they were past and clear.

Over the span of a week, the Portsmouth-based frigate HMS Iron Duke shadowed the Kilo-class submarine Novorossiysk and the support tug Evgeny Churov as they headed southbound through the Dover Strait and out into the Atlantic. Iron Duke was the second NATO warship tracking Novorossiysk: the Canadian vessel HMCS Shawinigan picked up the trail first as the sub exited the Baltic and headed for UK waters. The two allied vessels carried out a handoff as the Russian sub neared the Dover Strait. Once past the strait, the French frigate FS Auvergne took over the tracking mission.

Novorossiysk is the first-in-class of the 636.3 variant of the Kilo-class diesel-electric attack sub, which is said to be much more difficult to detect when submerged than previous iterations of the well-known design. This time, the sub was easy to follow, since it remained on the surface throughout the transit through the North Sea and the English Channel.

After Novorossiysk had passed into French jurisdiction, HMS Iron Duke turned back and headed for the North Sea to meet another Russian warship, the corvette Stoiky, accompanied by the product tanker Yaz. The Yaz is notorious among Western ship-trackers for carrying jet fuel from Crimea for the Russian air force's operations in Syria. The Belgian patrol vessel BNS Castor and the UK patrol ship HMS Tyne assisted with monitoring duties during the transit.

"Maritime security operations of this nature are a fundamental capability of the Royal Navy, with the protection of our sovereign waters and critical national infrastructure a key focus," said HMS Iron Duke CO Cmdr. David Armstrong. "These were the fourth and fifth such operations for HMS Iron Duke since we emerged from a period of intense training in July, and I am extremely proud of the professionalism and selfless dedication that my ship’s company consistently display."