During the course of this morning, the British Royal Navy revealed that it completed a ten-day deployment with its air-naval assets to closely monitor four ships and a submarine of the Russian Navy, which transited the English Channel and the North Sea. According to what the institution reported on its official channels, this involved the deployment of the ships HMS Somerset, HMS St. Albans, HMS Mersey and RFA Tideforce, as well as naval helicopters to complement their capabilities.
Expanding on details, the force indicated that HMS Mersey together with RFA Tideforce and a Wildcat helicopter from the 815 Naval Air Squadron were in charge of carrying out the tracking of the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich, as well as the Ropucha-class landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin and the submarine Krasnodar belonging to the Kilo class. For its part, HMS Somerset together with its Merlin helicopter was the one that intercepted the Udaloy-class destroyer Severomorsk and the tanker Kama that was sailing alongside it, a task for which it was briefly accompanied by the frigate HMS St. Albans.
Regarding this and warning about the growing Russian naval activity in Atlantic waters, Lieutenant George Hage of the ship HMS Mersey stated: “Mersey usually acts as one of the high-readiness units to protect British waters, together with its sister ships HMS Tyne and Severn. Our ability to maintain a presence that monitors Russian activity in British waters is not an easy task, especially with the increase in activity in recent months (…) Working with our allies continues to highlight the teamwork and strength that characterize the NATO alliance.”
Regarding the latter, it is important to highlight that the tracking operation carried out by the British Royal Navy while the Russian vessels navigated Atlantic waters also had the support of other European partners of London, including aircraft and ships deployed by France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. This forms part of the usual procedures already observed on previous occasions, an illustrative example being what was reported on January 26, when British and Dutch ships carried out the tracking of the Russian corvette Boikiy and the tanker MT General Skobelev while they transited the English Channel.
Finally, it is useful to mention that the aforementioned relief of HMS St. Albans by HMS Somerset was not attributed to technical problems, but rather it was a scheduled deployment framed within the so-called Operation Ceto; a permanent mission carried out by the British Royal Navy with the aim of monitoring potential submarine activities in surrounding waters. On this, Commander Matt Millyard of HMS Somerset stated: “Since we returned from operations in December 2025, an incredible amount of work has been carried out to prepare HMS Somerset to resume its duties in Operation Ceto (…) The coming months promise to be a complex combination of tasks for the ship, but we are prepared and look forward to the challenge.”
*Image credits: British Royal Navy
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