Portsmouth-based patrol ships HMSMersey and HMSSevern were dispatched alongside a Wildcat helicopter for this mission.
The HMS Mersey and P282 HMS Severn shadowing RFN Boikiy (Image: Royal Navy / SWNS)
The Royal Navy has intercepted Russian ships in the English Channel during a two-day operation alongside other NATO allies. HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, both patrol ships, and a Wildcat helicopter were dispatched to intercept Russian corvette Boikiy and oil tanker MT General Skobelev as they sailed towards the North Sea.
Mersey first intercepted the Russian vessels as they entered the Channel, taking over from NATO allies after they monitored them through the Bay of Biscay. Severn and Mersey combined with the Wildcat near the Isle of Wight to monitor the group, using powerful sensors to gather valuable information and report on their movements.
P283 HMS Mersey and P282 HMS Severn shadow RFN Boikiy. (Image: Royal Navy / SWNS)
Severn continued to watch the Russians as they sailed into the North Sea on their return journey after a deployment in the Mediterranean. A NATO ally was then tasked with monitoring as they continued their journey north.
Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government.
“I can confirm that the UK has provided tracking and monitoring in support of the French operation to board the tanker Grinch. This support included HMS Dagger monitoring the vessel through the Strait of Gibraltar.
“Alongside our allies, we are stepping up our response to shadow vessels – to choke off the funds that fuel Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
In a separate operation in the Mediterranean, patrol boat HMS Dagger monitored the movements of the tanker Grinch, which was boarded by French forces.
The Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron vessel tracked the tanker – one of 544 vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet – through the Strait and obtained photographs of the Grinch.
It also comes just two weeks after HMS Mersey and a Wildcat from 815 NAS intercepted Russian Udaloy-class destroyer Severomorsk and the merchant vessels Sparta IV and MYS Zhelaniya in the North Sea.
The Royal Navy monitored the ships as they sailed through the Strait of Dover and the English Channel, before handing over monitoring duties to a NATO ally near the island of Ushant, off the coast of France.
