A Royal Navy warship has tracked the actions of 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 assault submarine Vepr made their underwater journey south alongside the Norwegian coast from the Arctic. The Sort 23 frigate shadowed the submarines as they surfaced individually within the North Sea, north west of Bergen, Norway, on July 16 and 19, earlier than NATO and Baltic forces took over duties as they continued to St Petersburg for Russian Navy Day celebrations on July 31.
HMS Portland’s Commanding Officer, Commander Tim Leeder, mentioned: “Our success on operations marks the fruits of many months of specialist coaching and workout routines. Critically, the cohesiveness of Royal Navy, RAF and our allies capabilities ensures that we’re able to conducting and sustaining most of these anti-submarine operations within the North Atlantic. It’s testomony to my sailors’ dedication and professionalism, alongside that of our allies, that we’re in a position to conduct this strategically essential function.”
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Portland and her specialist Merlin helicopter – each geared up with cutting-edge sonars, sensors and torpedoes for submarine-hunting operations – reported on the actions of the Russian Northern Fleet vessels. One of many RAF’s new long-range maritime patrol plane, the P8 Poseidon, additionally labored carefully with HMS Portland to hunt and observe the submarines. This operation comes quickly after HMS Portland took half in NATO’s premiere submarine-hunting train. This massive scale joint train proved to be the perfect prelude for such a reside operation.
Okay-560 Severodvinsk is a Yasen class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy, and the lead vessel of the category. The submarine is called after town of Severodvinsk. She is deployed with the Russian Northern Fleet. Vepr (Okay-157) (Russian: actually means “wild boar”) is a Undertaking 971 Shchuka-B (additionally recognized by the NATO reporting identify Akula-II) class nuclear-powered assault submarine of the Russian Navy. Her keel was laid down on 16 June 1990 by Sevmash. She was launched on 10 December 1994, commissioned on 25 November 1995, and homeported in Gadzhievo.
