Four Russian warships crossing the English Channel
In recent two years, the Russian navy, which has been keeping a low profile for many years, seems to be coming out of the trough, obviously strengthening overseas operations, and seems to want to find the feeling of crossing the ocean in those years. Recently, the Royal Navy News Department issued a statement saying that on Thursday, two ships of the British Navy followed four ships of the Russian Navy. The four Russian naval vessels were passing through the English Channel and the Dover Strait, which attracted the attention of the British side, so they urgently sent warships for tracking and monitoring.
According to the Royal Navy, when a British patrol ship stationed in Portsmouth was operating in the British area of responsibility, it suddenly found four Russian naval vessels operating. It was observed that the four Russian warships were passing through the English Channel and the Dover Strait, preparing for the North Sea. The British navy immediately sent patrol ships Tyne and Severn to track Russian ships and monitor their activities along the way.
According to the British side, these four Russian warships are kulakov vice admiral anti-submarine ship, Vasily Bikov patrol ship and two auxiliary ships of Russian Northern Fleet. After tracking the British ships for a certain distance, the Belgian navy took over and continued to track and monitor the Russian ships. The great concern of Britain and Belgium for Russian warships reflects NATO's vigilance against Russian troops.
The "Tyne" ship sent by Britain is the first boat of a river-class patrol ship. Officially entered the service in 2003. It is a new generation of offshore patrol ship of British Navy. Its main tasks are offshore defense, daily low-risk coastal patrol, anti-submarine and anti-ship, protection of fishermen's rights and interests, and information collection. Because of this, the river level displacement is only 1.850 tons, and the weapons and equipment are only1kaa20/30mm naval gun and two1.7mm general machine guns. A total of five river-class patrol ships were built, the second of which was the Saiwen, which also participated in the tracking of Russian ships. However, the fifth Jiang-class ship was not equipped with the British navy, but was built for the Royal Thai Navy.
Compared with the British patrol ships under 2,000 tons, the Russian Navy's "kulakov vice admiral" is obviously a large-tonnage ship with a full displacement of more than 7,000 tons. It is an upgraded type of Russian 1 155 anti-submarine ship. NATO calls this class a "fearless" class, which has strong anti-submarine capability and is the main combat model of the Russian Navy.
Skelton, commander of the patrol ship Tyne, said that we have moved from maritime safety training to maritime training, and we have the ability to track Russian warships. These advances are to ensure the safety of Britain, and these actions are common. Before this interception, the Tyne intercepted a Russian warship after completing a joint exercise with an Irish warship. The British side said that two weeks ago, another frigate named "Westminster" of the British Navy found four Russian ships crossing the Dover Strait, including vice admiral, kulakov. According to Russian media, the kulakov vice admiral belongs to the Russian Northern Fleet, and this ship will regularly participate in navigation activities in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Arctic. The implication is that these activities of Russian ships are mostly routine maritime navigation, and NATO does not need to be paranoid.