Royal Navy tracks Russian warship and tankers through UK waters

The Royal Navy has shadowed a Russian destroyer and two tankers through UK waters during a five-day operation.

HMS Trent, a Portsmouth-based patrol vessel, followed the Vice Admiral Kulakov from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk westward through the English Channel.

Simultaneously, the Royal Navy said a NATO ally shadowed two Russian tankers as they sailed from the west to join the Russian warship off the tip of the Brittany peninsula.

All three Russian vessels turned back to head eastwards through the Channel, followed by HMS Trent.

“Russian warships are increasingly sailing through the English Channel, and the Royal Navy stands ready to monitor them, safeguarding our waters and undersea cables,” Luke Pollard, minister for the Armed Forces, said.

The Royal Navy said the operation is part of the government’s ongoing commitment to safeguard the integrity of UK waters and protect national security.

HMS Trent, which is back in the UK for the first time in four years following operations in the Mediterranean and off West Africa and a maintenance period in Malta, is now preparing to deploy to the Caribbean.

A Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, later joined the operation to provide air support and monitor the Russians’ movements with its impressive suite of sensors.

Trent and the Yeovilton-based Wildcat were also supported by warships, patrol aircraft and helicopters from other NATO allies.

Lieutenant commander Paul Kilbride, the executive officer in temporary command of the HMS Trent, said the operation was “routine business” for the Royal Navy.

“This operation was multi-national and had HMS Trent operating with several of our European NATO allies demonstrating our interoperability with other nations and providing a deterrence inside UK waters,” he said.