HMS Tyne has tracked the Russian submarine RFS Krasnodar and the corvette RFS Boikiy during two separate transits through the English Channel.
The Kilo-class SSK was intercepted near the French coast as it travelled eastward on the surface, returning to Russia from the eastern Mediterranean. HMS Tyne monitored its progress through UK waters before handing over to allied units. The submarine was also previously observed by a Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, embarked with the UK Carrier Strike Group operating in the Atlantic.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), submarines may only exercise the right of innocent passage through territorial seas (like parts of the English Channel) while surfaced. International law may not hold much sway with the Russians, but conventional submarines have limited underwater speed and long-distance transits can be completed very much faster on the surface. It also serves as another signalling operation of Russian naval presence to NATO.
Following the successful tracking of Krasnodar, HMS Tyne was quickly reassigned to shadow the Steregushchiy-class corvette RFS Boikiy as it made a westward passage from the Baltic through the Dover Strait. Tyne and 815 NAS subsequently monitored the warship’s return journey eastward, sailing in company with three merchant vessels.
This latest RN activity follows recent shadowing missions conducted by HMS St Albans and HMS Mersey earlier in April. HMS Tyne recently returned to operations after a maintenance period and continues to patrol home waters alongside her sister ships HMS Mersey and HMS Severn.
The Prime Minister is attending a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Oslo today, where HMS St Albans is alongside. Russia’s maritime posture and protection of critical national infrastructure are expected to feature prominently in discussions.
Hopefully Starmer will be lobbying for Norway to opt for T26 for Norway’s new frigate while in Oslo for JEF.
Just a thought. If Type 26 won the competition to be Noway’s next frigate, there’s been speculation that delivery to the RN would have to be delayed to allow some to be redirected to Norway instead.
Could this delay be avoided by involving Norwegian shipyards in the build process?
I’m thinking, perhaps have a Norwegian yard build sections of the hull (regardless of whether the hull is for the RN or Norway), for assembly by BAE at Govan.
BAE has already given this type of work to Ferguson because Govan is at capacity.
A Norwegian shipyard already builds the mast structure for the T26, so having parts foreign-built has a precedent.
Sean
TLDNR
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
TLDNR
Outsourcing is one of the key ways in which BAE aim to accelerate delivery. Cammell are providing some block build.
If they want Norway to go for the T26 they’ll have to find a way to fit it in beforehand. As you say, why not further outsource and give other yards some share in the UK ship building business. Build more capacity and increase the skills base.
Block assembly is the only thing worth outsourcing
Exactly which other UK shipyards have both capacity and desire to take on T26 work? I suspect it’s a very very short list.
I am too far away down here in Oz to know exactly but what about Ferguson’s? Work is work, so you put your hand up for it.
Quentin, what’s the shipbuilding market like down under?
I recall the Hunters are getting built in a yard owned by the government, is that right? Are there any other military yards?
ATH
👍
Indeed!
….I believe I could count off all of them on less than one full handful of fingers….
Hence the phrase in defence procurement:
…. “We are expecting to be on the MOD’s shortlist”
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
It is outsourced
‘Steel was cut for Ship 4 HMS Birmingham in April 2023 but fabrication of the initial units being undertaken by Ferguson (Clyde), Cammell Laird (Birkenhead) and A&P (Tyne). These will arrive by barge shortly to begin consolidation.”
https://www.navylookout.com/type-26-frigate-construction-and-shipyard-investment-progress-update
Below is a 1000 tonne mega block on Mersey
From this website last year:
“If the RNoN is to get its first new frigate in 2029, either ship 3 (HMS Belfast) or ship 4 (HMS Birmingham) would have to be diverted to them. The timetable for later ships in the programme for both nations also be subject to negotiation and BAES’s ability to accelerate production”
I don’t think there’s any time to spin up more yards and accelerate, so the RN will lose ship 3 or 4, the delay could only be offset by somehow accelerating the later ships – while also building more for Norway. There’s also long lead items that haven’t been ordered to spool up.
I think if one of the RN builds diverts to Norway there’ll be a 1-2 year delay on reaching 4 T26’s in service.
Not equal type ships but can the T31 program be accelerated and expanded to compensate for T26 numbers?
Shows the lack of frigates – Tyne’s not much use if the Kilo chose to submerge.
Even if there were lots of frigates available. Would following a sub on a regular transit be the best use of sea time and money? Using a B1River for this task would free up an escort for training and exercise.
Using a Cessna from a local airport would be even cheaper.
Endurance maybe an hour- airport to airport and its slowest speed could be 5x that of the sub. So lots of circles .
Much better for OPV to be actually on a shadowing patrol- which is one of its missions- than pointless short trips to Scilly Isles and back as the only sea training.
Near a tree by a river, there’s a hole in the ground where an old man of Aran goes around and around, and his mind is a beacon in the veil of the night. For a strange kind of fashion, there’s a wrong and a right
This is core OPV business.
To take on SSKs?
Look up the word Patrol, It’s a simple word for simple people.
They’re not taking on anything. But to escort a surfaced SSK, yes, absolutely.
Then what’s the point of following it! And what happens if war breaks out while we are following it?
Because is fun and do you use Head and Shoulders?
But there isn’t going to be any taking on. The Russians aren’t going to start WW3 with a lone SSK going underwater.
Ukraine military directorate of Intelligence – Special operations. They could?
hope.
It can shoot it with its 30mm gun!
Yeah, title should have been:
MS Tyne shadows Russian submarine on surface in the English Channel
Haha nato and Amerika hardly known for observing international law. Dumb article.
British vessel, in British waters…
What does “Amerika” have to do with anything Mikhail?
Is that how Russians spell America?
Аме́рика but the closest in Latin would be Amerika, Russian has no “c”
The probably won’t bother but could they at least replace the 20mm with something with a bit more oomph, a 30 or 40mm? It looks ridiculous!
They can fit 15 inch guns no problem.
A 1″ to 1.5″ will be fine.
Sock puppet
It is against the rules to insult members of this comments section.
How is it ridiculous, putting a bigger gun on it won’t change its role at all
I was talking “visually”. Just a suggestion that a bit of an upgrade to match the 30mm on the B2 Rivers and maybe adding a drone pad capability if it doesn’t already have one.
That 20mm with modern munitions would rip through a sub and thin plate armour of any ship it might be facing off against. Anything bigger coming through has bigger vessels for escort or aircraft on high readiness nearby.
Have you seen what it’s escorting here? No comparison.
A submarine ain’t gonna be able to get a torpedo on target at that range
Most are wire guided so you run it out and back on target simples
It will have to be very close to shoot it with a 20mm,by the time you get in range it will be 50mtrs below you!
What if a torpedo accidentally launched? Sorry Comrade?
Fresh from her spruce-up, HMS Tyne has barely stretched her legs before catching Krasnodar lurking about the Channel like a dodgy Tinder date who won’t stop texting. Surfaced and sulking, she crept home past NATO’s front garden under the watchful eye of a Wildcat and a warship with nothing better to do. Classic “innocent passage”—if by “innocent” you mean “loud, obvious, and just asking to be seen.”
But Tyne wasn’t done. Next up: Boikiy, out for a jog with three merchant ships. Because nothing says Russian hard power like a group cruise. Tyne kept her close and showed her the door without so much as mussing her fenders.
Takes me back to my days on Dukey—days spent tailing Russian tin cans, nights spent wondering if sonar was flirting or just naturally that chatty.
Business as usual in the Channel: grey ships, long glances, and the occasional uninvited guest. Call it foreplay with a flight deck.
Ridiculous post.
MODERATORS PLEASE.
Steady as she goes, Duker! Just flying the flag with a bit of lower-deck banter—no broadside intended. Happy to pipe down if it’s ruffling feathers
Its against the rules , and this a navy site where they run a tight ship!
If you’re joking around, I’m struggling to see the comedy.
But if you’d read the Comment Moderation policy (you can find it in the navigation ribbon), you’ll find that there’s no rule against Carry On-style humour in posts…
Don’t like it don’t read it!
Duker
Do you want me to have a (quiet) word wth “the Donald”
…..and organise a 24 hour ceasefire between you and Mousekid?
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
Tyne looks awesome
Yes! I am all for these camouflage schemes.
End of WW2 commemoration time again ?
To track a submarine a ship requires a sonar.
The submarines have to stay surfaced through the channel
Not just to avoid diplomatic incident, also because the channel is shallow. Large freighter with deep draughts could run over a 2,500 ton sub and hardly notice.
Then keep an eye on which NATO warship takes over monitoring the sub in the deeper waters further north.
Kilo class mostly were built at St Petersburg Admiralty yard. If its going through the Channel and the Dover Str then its likely back to the Baltic and its yard for refit time
ATH
As with many other previous / recent instances of russian (i.e. enemy) warships and submarines getting very close to the UK: and hence needing to be shadowed
This is yet another occasion where I can’t help but get the impression (i.e. a definite feeling) that the Russians are doing this innocent surfaced transit simply to distract us from something else “naughty” which they are doing elsewhere
……..so quite possibly with a submerged submarine?
……Or maybe I am just a very suspicious person????
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
PS
Quentein63: if you want suggest upgunning the OPV = go for the Swedish 40mm!
Your getting suspicious/careful enough to become a submariner.
Deepsixteen
……21 hours after it was first posted…
…..I am still trying to work out if your comments was /is a compliment or an insult…
Given that your are, very obviously, one of those secreative members of that highly secreative underwater fraternity – the one with fewer members in each “lodge” than a freemasons ……
… I am guessing that your comments were most-probably intended as a compliment….
……however, with all that nasy business that is going on around the world today….
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
Definitely a compliment, the brothers of the deep are as you say small in numbers but large in impact.
Deepsixteen
👍👍👍👍👍
Peter (Irate Taxpayer)
Not so sure the Turks will allow it into the Black Sea as it isn’t based there?
This is why the UK should have never stopped production on the River class OPV’s. The river class OPV’s could have been used for Home defense missions, freeing up the Frigates and they can be armed for ASUW missions. The other option is getting the Khareef-class corvette or an upgunned USCG NSC
Not a priority, government would cancel frigates if we had armed corvettes
Another possible option for us.
“The Protector, specifically the SeaGuardian variant of the MQ-9B, is being developed to carry and potentially drop lightweight torpedoes.
This capability, along with other features like sonobuoys and anti-ship missiles, would enhance its Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) capabilities.
The SeaGuardian’s role in ASW is also being considered as a potential force multiplier for existing platforms like the Poseidon.”
SeaGuardian’s Role:
The SeaGuardian is a maritime variant of the MQ-9B, designed for long-range, long-endurance surveillance and warfare operations.
LINK
In other words, the paltry UK Navy had nothing better to do than to shadow a Russian submarine sailing on the surface in international waters minding its own business. Nothing to see here, other than a rusting UK vessel photoshopped with a Russian? submarine. Sad.
You do realise that is a photo of a screen right? Just a friendly reminder, I think you’ve forgotten to take your medication.
…….Dont cry for me Argentina!! We know we’ve gone and beat ya!!! We‘ll sink your carriers, with our sea harriers…… lol sorry, don’t know where that came from?!! Ricardo tha tha tha!!!!
Now the RN is no longer doing fisheries doesn’t mean we don’t need a ‘home waters guard ship’.
Oddly the Steregushchiy-class corvette has the ideal specs.
Or something more use on a day to day basis the Finnish Turva which could do everything from pollution control to emergency towing to security operations. We could have one north and one south……..
Neither are suitable for the tasks in hand, why post such false hubris ? Do you even know anything about RN requirements?
When I read a comment like that I am not sure it is you or a troll.
So…………
I like your images. It wasnt me saying that , its the ‘naval militia’ of the PRC playing games.
In your head.
Do the Russians use their OPVs to escort our subs near their waters? Serious.
The whole reason Russian Subs are escorted through the English Channel is because it’s an International shipping route that happens to be UK and French Territorial waters.
People read way too much in this common event.