Russia has said it fired warning shots at a British warship after it reportedly entered the country’s waters in the Black Sea, but the Ministry of Defence has denied the claims.

The Russian defence ministry had claimed that HMS Defender entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea while a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in its path.

Russia said a border patrol boat fired shots at HMS Defender while a Russian aircraft dropped four bombs in its path in waters off Crimea. Russia had claimed that the vessel violated its borders.

However, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement that HMS Defender was carrying out a “routine transit” and entered an internationally recognised traffic corridor.

“As is routine, Russian vessels shadowed her passage and she was made aware of training exercises in her wider vicinity,” he said.

The Ministry of Defence also said that the Russians were carrying out a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided prior warning.

“No warning shots have been fired at HMS Defender. The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.

We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity.

No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.”

Local media claimed that according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, today at 11:52 am HMS Defender crossed the Russian state border in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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126 COMMENTS

  1. This is all sounding very strange. Usually, countries deny firing shots not claim they did when they didn’t. Sounds like someone has got their wires crossed and added the pressence of HMS Defender to the gunnery exercises and made international incident!

    It could be a deliberate miss representation to deflect attention from the UK Ukraine defence deal, of course.

    Cheers CR

    • Russia is trying to intimidate Ukraine and its allies and is currently frustrated by its lack of progress. Hopefully thins will calm down an sense will prevail.

    • It could be deliberate, or it could be an ambitious “spokesman” in Russia trying to get himself a headline, and getting his wires crossed. Since the ship has a BBC team on board any shots landing close to the ship, or bombs, would have been photographed, and will be on the news shortly. If not then it’s all made up, and the ambitious bloke could well be on his way to the Gulag!

        • The most the BBC could say about it was it was tense. Simple navigation of international waters in a disputed area. There will be a few more of those on this trip. I would hope he crew were tense and I’m glad HMS Defender stuck to it’s guns and sailed on through.

        • Danielle,
          I saw the coverage on BBC iPlayer an hour ago – News Channel – ‘Outside Source’ programme.
          Russian gunnery fire could be heard in the far distance.
          A Russian coastguard vessel steamed parallel to our T45 very close in – looked like it was lining up to do a RAS!
          A Russian DD/FF was stationary, broadside on, some distance away.
          Not in the above article or mentioned by MoD (surprisingly) was the buzzing of HMS Defender by a low flying close-in fighter.

          • Just seen what I think is the same footage on the 10 o clock news.

            An SU24 did a low flyby, and what looked like a Candid or Coot type flew high overhead? Other fast jets in the distance.

            As was mentioned by the diplomatic editor, Defender could have taken a more southerly course out of Odessa, which I suggested earlier to avoid this sort of thing ( all those posts got deleted, including mine ) but instead went SE.

            This is the result. You hang out outside the bears new cave then there will be incidents.

          • It is an international shipping lane. HMS Defender was asserting its legal right to sail there. Russian Ships also sail in our waters in international shipping lanes and we do not buzz them or claim we fired warning shots at them as they have a legal right to be there if transiting…

          • Of course. We are legally entitled to do all that. We also have to expect this shit if we apply those international rules to Russia and Crimea. As CR said better arm up our escorts with ASM because if you poke you sometimes get stung.

          • In which case international rules go out the window then and we deny passage through the Channel and force the Russians all the way around Ireland! Russia was never going to do anything. They are not stupid. They just like stoking up the rhetoric in order to win points at home and keep the population of Russia thinking that they are fighting a war against the evil west and winning. They were told of the passage well before it happened as is the requirement in law. However the day before they faked maritime tracking charts to show that Defender and HNLMS Evertson were sailing directly towards Sevastopol in a threatening way. Given that there were live cameras showing Both ships in port in Ukraine at the time it shows you just how mad the Russians can be when it comes to propaganda and just how easily they control the information that gets to Russian citizens.

          • Interesting that the Russians showed Defender they had no intention of a serious confrontation. The claimed ‘warning shots’ were way out and they deployed their CG to come close. The aircraft are anticipated and old hat from the RN perspective. For domestic consumption and panicky westerners only.

        • Hi Daniele,

          Initially, there was a great video report on the BBC 6 o’clock news yesterday. Looked very much like the incident with HMS Dragon but there was a Russia coast guard ship close alongside HMS Defender threatening to open fire on this time round.

          It should be pointed out that there were Russia corvette’s within sight and those things, as we know, are armed to the teeth with anti-ship missiles. In the video you can hear shots being fire some miles of as the Russian’s carry out their pre-notified live firing exercise.

          I assessed the this incident was a significent step up on the HMS Dragon incident and if it came to an exchange of fire HMS Defender would have been hard pressed given the close proximity of the Russian corvettes and their ASuM… The Su-24 would have have an exciting time as they appeared to be equipped with bombs rather than stand off weapons and there were a few of them in range of the Sea Viper system.

          Fortunately, no body stepped over the brink, but if I was the MoD I would be pushing to get that damned intermediate SSM into service ASAP.

          Cheers CR

          • The only thing with VIPER is its close in minimum range.

            At close range the 30mm cannons are going to be more use against aircraft with the Phalanx taking bombs out.

            That is unless there are ASTER15’s hiding in the VLS which are more use for close in work.

            It is unlikely that an AShM would be far enough out to arm, at those distances – you don’t launch armed missiles for obvious reasons just in case the launch goes wrong, so it would be down to naval gunnery IRL.

            I am a tiny bit surprised that when stepping on the bear’s tail, we didn’t send her with some of the legacy Harpoons just for show as that is 8x surface combatants that would have to be willing to not fight another day. Particularly if they are corvette sized.

            In the video she seems to be moving at a fair old clip – judging by the wake.

          • Hi Supportive Boke,

            I entirely agree with your comments and indeed the minimum firing range for the SSM’s occured to me whilst I was writing my comment. However, it was possibly / likely more Russia Navy vessels were over the horizon, something we will probably never know, so I kinda assumed SSM’s were a ‘theoretical’ possibility…

            Oddly, the two T23’s sailing with the CSG have been fitted with Harpoon launchers as there are pictures of them with the CSG so equipped. I am guessing that as the Harpoons are on there way out the RN may not have sufficent serviceable systems to go round…

            As for the Aster 15 it is my understanding that the T45 do carry a mix to provide a layered defence.

            Cheers CR

      • The alleged incident has just been shown on BBC News , HMS Defender is show going into action stations and then it shows the ship bei g buzzed by a number of Russian aircraft and shadowed by a Russian Coastguard vessel a Russia warship can be seen in the distance and the sound of gunfire can be heard . But no reports of damaged or hits.

        • i watched the BBC report, and I was struck that the call to action stations didn’t seem to be from the same thread as the overflight, it could have been stitched in from another piece entirely. And you could barely hear the gunfire, so it was definitely a long way away.
          Just a bit of coat trailing by us in international waters and the Russians getting hysterical, in the way that totalitarian states always do. I’m looking forward to the torrents of rhetoric from the Chinese in a few months time which I suspect might make this incident sound like Sunday afternoon on a boating lake.

          • Their propaganda is simply for domestic consumption where they get very little opportunity to see other coverage other than the state funded variety. It is designed to make Putin look like a strong leader willing to take on the west and also to portray the west as a common enemy that can unite Russians who would otherwise possibly like Putin to clear off…

    • Maybe the ‘shots fired’ and bombs dropped is more for the domestic market. They might be saying it to the world but the rest of the world shrugs while Putin fans at home are getting hard ons. Who knows, maybe the did and we’re trying to make them look stupid by denying it. For what its worth, I’m leaner to the former.

  2. Seems to be a war of words. Trying to unsettle the UK population. The Russians are clearly touchy about Crimea.

    Personally I think it will backfire. It serves to educate the British public about the RN which is no bad thing. 🤔 

  3. It’s hard to know who to believe, I read that the ship moved out of the area pretty quickly after the shots were meant to be shot. I suspect that nether side is telling the entire truth

    • Can’t see why the British would want to either underplay or overplay the incident.

      I can see why the Russians woul want to intimidate anyone being friendly or supportive to the ukrainians preferably wihout actually creating an actual incident.

      • Depends if the destroyer really was in Ukraine waters or moved into waters that Russia consider theirs. If the later, I can see why the UK would want to downplay it.

        • The waters the Russians consider theirs are Ukrainian waters. The waters in question are internationally recognised as Ukrainian and that the Russians have annexed them.

          • That’s the point though, if we were detribrately trying to push the point and operate in what we (most of the international community also) consider Ukrainian waters, then we might want to down play it, if we then push it too far and Russia reacted to it.

            I’m clearly not saying that it was actually russian waters, just what they perceive to be theirs.

            Same thing is going to happen in the south China sea sooner or later between China and the US.

            It will be in everyone’s interest to downplay it publically, as no one wants a war. Why Russia up played it who knows, maybe just making a point

          • The Russians don’t want us in the Black sea full stop. We made whatever points we wanted to just by entering and signing a deal with Ukraine. From what I can see no incursion was made and no shots were fired – just a lot of hot air

            Do you seriously believe a word the Russians say?

          • I don’t believe a word any policitcian says. Anything military related that is made official is purely done for local polictical gains.

            I was just saying it was odd.

          • Two points. Firstly they are internationally and legally recognised as Ukrainian waters. Secondly it is an internationally recognised shipping lane (Like the English Channel) so given the UK notified Russia in the correct way that it was going to be travelling there then it had every right to do so unimpeded just like we allow Russian ships to transit through the Channel…

          • No arguement but just looking at it from Russias perspective (not saying it’s the right one). For example a large number of the international community recognise the Falklands at argentian, what would we feel if Argentina passed a war ship into Falklands waters. Equally what is the reaction each time Spain does the same in Gib waters.

          • If it was a shipping lane then we would not batter an eyelid apart from escorting it as most nations do.

          • It doesn’t matter whose waters they are, other ships have the right to ‘innocent passage’ in exactly the same way that Russian vessels are allowed to travel within ten miles of the UK when going through the English Channel.

    • Where did you read that, Steve? MoD state she transmitted a recognised separation zone and exited safely. Must be osint tracking in addition to the BBC team, so the news disadvantage currently lies with the RN, if their lying.

    • Alternatively of course, the MoD knew that a Russian exercise was due to take place in the area and ordered “Defender” to sail through the Ukranian shipping lane to test the Russian response.

      • Nope, just the fastest route from Odessa (where she’d been visiting) to Georgia (where she’s going next) using an internationally recognised sea-lane.
        The U.K. has a similar one in its territorial waters called the English Channel. But we don’t make a song and dance when other navies use it.

        • Indeed it is the fastest route between Ukraine and Georgia!

          However, I wonder how many merchant ships were sailing between Odesa and Georgia at the same time? If so, did they use the same route as “Defender” or did they heed warnings about Russian exercises and make deviations? If the latter, “Defender” was obviously ordered to ignore the warnings and sail through as planned and, in doing so, test the Russian’s response and gather relevant intelligence

          Agree your point about about the Channel but, of course, because it is one the the busiest shipping routes in the world, we do not hold major navel exercises in the area. Nevertheless, NATO does hold exercises near to shipping lanes and the maritime industry is warned accordingly but occasionally Russian warships do come to observe

          • There were plenty of Merchant ships using the same route at the time. They are clearly seen on the ship tracking sites.

    • I will say this if Russia had fired on a RN ship wouldn’t there be gun camera footage that the Russians would be showing to the world so I’m sceptical of the Russian claims I think putin is just sounding off for his domestic fans nothing more

    • You can see the course of the ship on publicly available trackers… It clearly did not move out of the area any quicker than it would have otherwise. It simply followed the shipping lane which happens to take it close to the coast of Crimea for a short time.

  4. I find the MOD statement odd almost as if they’re panicking and not sure what to say. I’m almost tempted to believe the Russian version of events

  5. Some additional info regards the above;
    a RC-135V Rivet Joint Signal Intelligence aircraft of USAF‘s 38th RS with 63-9792 serial & SAIL21 call-sign is now monitoring the Russian military activity in Crimea.
    

  6. I have to say this may actually be a first. Normally you have the “ you fired at us” With a “ no we did not” responce. Russia and the U.K. have managed to get into a “we fired at you” “ no you did not” argument. That’s really really just messed up when you think about it.

    • Maybe the Russian gunnery is so wildly inaccurate that while they thought they were firing warning shots it probably looked more like a shore bombardment of Sevastopol…

  7. Not that strange really. So UK MOD say that HMS Defender was transiting international waters and the Russians were carrying out a GUNEX nearby. The thing here is that it implies (correctly) that the waters aren’t Russian and that the Russian occupation of the Crimea is illegal. The Russians say that Defender was in their waters and that the GUNEX were indeed warning shots. Thus implying that the waters belong to Russia. One thing is for sure, shots were fired but what for and where is a matter in interpretation. I guess we can expect similar when CG21 transits disputed Chinese / Philippine / Vietnamese waters latter this year.

  8. Doesn’t look like Defender noticed ‘Putin’s petulance’, then. Trust she got some decent ELINT.

  9. Just did some checking and there are NOTAMS in force for the area.
    It is telling that the NOTAMS also have notes against them saying that the NOTAMS are issued by Russian Forces for areas that are internationally recognised as Ukrainian.
    Basically recognising the NOTAM legitimises the Russian forces so whilst being aware of the NOTAM they are not formally recognised.
    What could possibly go wrong!!

  11. Russian forces organise exercises in claimed waters off Crimean coast just as Defender departs from the well publicised signing of a deal which signals NATO support for a significant increase in Ukrainian naval strength. I don’t think so. Daring’s course must have been authorised by the UK and Nato allies complete with BBC reporter. Message to Putin…
    Job 38:11
    hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, here your proud waves must stop.

  12. And this illustrates perfectly the utter stupidity of fitted for but not with!

    Any ship sailing on deployment should have a full load of of all the weaponry it could need in case something kicks off whilst at sea.

    The excuse of they’ll be fitted as tensions rise is utter BS and could lead to the loss of ships and lives at some point.

    • Absolutely right. One day we’ll have a government which understands that preparation for potential crises is the cheap option, rather than putting said prep off to save a few quid today (and fob everyone off with platitudes whilst doing so).

  13. Big red bear strikes again 🐻we brits won’t be pushed about 🇬🇧 we will sail within law 🇬🇧 ⚓

  15. This is the Kremlin spinning the yarn that Russia is under siege by NATO ,it’s message soley for the Russian people not us as it’s easy to pick it apart.

    • It’s sad really the Russian people have a president who decides what’s best for him and not is people and makes sure he stays in power.Plus putting is Armed forces in a dangerous position with the West when there is no need.

  16. Just to be clear about the Russian propaganda pictures being shown by Sky. They absolutely do NOT show HMS Defender being chased out of anywhere. HMS Defender is just being escorted by Russian patrol boats and fast jets through international waters.

      • More than likely. I’d suggest that the MOD need to be a lot more open and realistic with their press releases than this time. Don’t give a blank statement denying things, instead say we sailed through international waters that have been illegally occupied by…

  17. I haven’t spotted any harpoons on Defender. Although unlikely to be used in this ‘posturing situation’ I think this incident illustrates that their omission is somewhat of an oversight.

    • Agreed, if your going to deliberately wind up another nation by sending a warship into their backyard, it would seem sensible precaution to arm it to the teeth. Almost zero risk of Russia doing anything but almost is not zero.

    • We looked at them and they looked at us, nobody blinked. The UK has taken it’s turn in the Black Sea. It’s time for the French & Italians to step up. Probably be back next year though. By then I really hope that NATO has stepped up it’s media ops. Today, for people not in the know, has been significantly shaped by the Russian Psy Ops.

        • I hadn’t realised that HMS Vanguard, the battleship not the bomber, had been hidden away in a Scottish Loch and converted into a stealth destroyer! Soon to come, the return of Jackie Fisher and “we won’t eight and we won’t wait”

        • Not as bad as the BBC rweporter in Kiev, who originally referred to her as “the HMS Destroyer” in his initial report.

          • For foreigners it may be understandable. For a BBC reporter, who I assume is British, that is unforgivable.

          • No it’s absolutely par for the course in almost all the main stream media these days, like saying “the HMS” which is now standard practice. And I bet most of them have degrees in English, which shows the worth of a modern education.
            on another tack, it is interesting to note, as was said earlier, that the US had a Rivet Joint up at the same time. Not a coincidence, they must have been hoovering up a lot of Elint.

          • Of course not, this was deliberate provocation by the RN, whether in Ukrainian waters and doing FON or not. They knew what the likely response would be. The Bear bit, but luckily did not close its jaws. Hope the take was worth it.

          • I suspect that the reason we are hearing so much about it is because the press are on board and are filing copy pretty quickly. When HMS Duncan had a similar situation a year or two ago it was reported by the documentary makers on board at the time so with an obvious delay.
            if you have not read it I recommend “The Silent Deep” by Peter Hennessy and James Jinks. Published in 2015 so now a bit out of date it has a lot of good stuff about the underwater equivalent during the Cold War.

          • My typos! Yes, he did appear to be a British reporter based in Kiev. What’s funny is the fact that the BBC reporter in London (Reeta Chakrabarti) referred to the ship by her correct name and didn’t use the word ‘the’. Then, it clipped over to matey with his webcam, who went on to use the incorrect language and name THREE times.

            Nick is correct. However, it does go a little further. A journalist should be able to research and get basic facts right. I’d forgive them not knowing the exact weapons fit at the time (number of machine guns, if harpoon was fitted, the helicopters carried and their weapon systems), the fact that 12 were to be built originally, or the fact that they have fallen victim to ‘fitted for..’, but getting the name wrong is unforgivable. I assume correspondents are at least handed a briefing before hand, but even then, as simple thing called ‘Google’ exists now as well.

            Of course, I’m bias with additional levels of pride, but still.

          • Pity I didn’t become a journalist. Are there any out there in the mainstream media with a decent amount of knowledge?!

          • Few and far between, mate. Go for it!

            On the subject, ‘This Morning’ just pronounced HMS Tamar’s name wrong!

          • D man Andrew Neil is probably the best of them no surprise he’s a Scot 😉

            🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

          • Mate, yes I like Andrew Neil. I don’t know if he knows anything concerning defence mind.

          • Aye true story that but he’s the kinda old Skool pugilist that would go do proper homework and find out what he’s talking about including defence👍🏻

            🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇬🇧

          • Haha it’s ok she’s in company with HNLMS Frigate having departed from HMS Aircraft Carrier, hopefully RFS Frigate won’t get too close!

      • I saw a report in the Express I think it was yesterday that explained how type 45 destroyers are armed with 45 Tomahawk cruise missiles. I admired their optimism but not their inability to Google.

  19. Seems we here are in danger of losing the plot more than the Royal Navy (and NATO) is, at this rate. The CSG elements surely need to lay down a marker for the whole deployment i.e. Russia & China. Not to mention the foreseeable future, from now on in.
    Regards

  20. At the risk of being seen(wrongly) as a friend of Moscow, I don’t think that Crimea is the most worthy cause to get mixed up in. What is now Russian Crimea was only part of Ukraine from 1954
    when it was gifted to them ( for reasons even Russian historians don’t agree on) under Khrushchev. It has never had a majority Ukrainian population, with Russians becoming an ever greater majority percentage after the expulsion of the Crimean Tartars in 1944.
    Russia’s strategic position,even in the Black Sea, is now so much less favourable than 30 years ago that her habitual paranoia is understandable.
    Of course Russia is a threat. It is willing to murder to stifle dissent at home and abroad. It is provocative and trigger happy.
    But I think there are better things for the RN to do nearer home. We should have more ships available to counter the increased Russian submarine presence around the UK. Sending a single warship 10 miles off a coastline that has been Russian for most of the last 200 years is a pretty pointless gesture.

    • Its a characteristic of multi ethnic empires that collapse into multiple nation states ( such as the USSR) that they leave behind these points of tensions.

      Multi ethnic empires tend to encourage ( or even force as a method of control) the movement of ethnic groups into around the empire. When it collapses into nation states these transplanted groups tend to end up as either/and/or their reason for one nation state to invade a second ( to save our fellow, whoever’s from the nasty whatever’s) or end up being the victims of oppression or ethnic violence. Good examples include:

      1) Northern Ireland
      2) Germanic populations in Europe
      3) India and Pakistan

      • Absolutely. I think that memories of Hitler’s escalating series of actions to return ethnic Germans to the Reich influenced Western reactions to Crimea. Was this the start of a similar progression of increasingly aggressive demarches? Were the Baltic States next? The actions in Eastern Ukraine gave reason to be concerned.
        But I just think we should bear in mind that Crimea is an unusual case.

        • Maybe but look at it from the Russkies point of view. You know we fought a major war (we being the ottoman Empire, UK & France) to evict the Russians from Sevastopol in order to keep the Russian fleet away from the Turkish Straits and ensure western domination of the Black Sea. The Crimean War is maybe quite high up in their threat assessment. Not defending their actions but it does take two to tango.

          • Yes you can never forget Russian national trauma and how that plays out in their geopolitical decision making. Western Europe has been the birthplace of many sorrows for the Russian people over the last couple of centuries, this is very much reflected in their near abroad policy, which is complicated by the collapse of a multi ethnic empire. The reality is we ( as in Europe, is allies and Asian nations ) have been luck that the level of violence and death has been limited to an almost ambient level ( when you consider the first half of the 20C). This is probably related to the stabilising effect of strategic nuclear deterrents.

          • I hadn’t really thought about the Crimean war. But I think we take the same view that the RN route was rather unwise. Above all, it doesn’t achieve anything except to give a propaganda opportunity to the Kremlin.

    • Well, I will add, from a purely personal perspective:
      I don’t wish to pay for military equipment if the UK shows any inclination against using it when words, or even actions get a tad heated, provided we have legal precedent. UNCLOS does not seem that complicated in most instances – a good law. Transitting from one port to another by a recognised direct routing is basic. Besides, if HMS Duncan was any guide, it does not matter where you are as far as the Mighty P’in is concerned.
      One imagines Defender is due for Istanbul and out to the Med after Georgia, but in the unlikely event that a return to Odessa was programmed, then the reciprocal course would be the one to take, regardless of local attitudes or threats.

    • Sorry, going to disagree. All that history is irrelevant. All that matters is that Russia agreed to Ukraine’s status and borders when the Soviet Union dissolved. Russia reneged on that when they annexed the Crimea and supported insurgency in Donetsk. That’s it. No excuses about Russian paranoia from being invaded in the past. Frankly given how many Russians have died directly from actions by their leadership, they’d be better served being more paranoid about their own government.

      Freedom of navigation is also not a pointless gesture. If nothing else this exercise has reminded the world that the Russian govt. (as opposed to its people) is an aggressor. One that is still working to undermine and coerce, if not actually attempt to annex, all of Ukraine, per the massing of forces on Ukraine’s borders earlier this year.

      It is perhaps also worth pointing out that even if we were to acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, that still would not warrant the action Russia took. UNCLOS allows the passage of warships through territorial waters under certain conditions, which is why when Russian and Chinese warships pass through the English channel we don’t threaten them.

    • The former Soviet Union agreed to Crimea remaining in Ukraine, when it became independent again. And Russia signed an agreement in 1994 respecting Ukraine’s integrity. And Ukraine agreed to lease Sevastopol Naval Base to Russia up to 2018.

  21. Missing the main point, to divert attention from Russia losing in the FOOTBALL and coming home, with the other little countries. HOW CAN WE SAVE FACE COMRAD. lets make some fake news….. There posting on TWATTER really.

  22. Can anyone tell me why there is a news blackout on the fact HMS defender was not alone? Why is there no reporting of the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate Evertsen in any news report or the fact the US have a destroyer also in the black sea? Evertsen and Defender left Ukrainian port together didn’t they?

  23. In the footage of the Russian jets flying past close by on the BBC it doesnt look like they are armed or I am mistaking fuel drop tanks for bombs!?

  25. Russias deputy foreign minister has stated that if any NATO vessel sails witin the limits ther will open fire .

  26. Can anyone of you Guys tell me what’s happening with HMS Daring,did read she was Replacing HMS Bristol as a Training Ship ?

    • Daring has finished a refit lately, and has been refloated in water.
      And I saw a photo of her, I think last week or the week before, on Navylookout Twitter feed of crew firefighters training on board, Andrew. Search for Daring on Twitter.

  27. I see my comment has been removed this starting to get silly now it seems the flagging system is being hijacked by trolls ,can I have some answers please,as there was nothing wrong with it as there are comments on the same lines to my comment that wa s removed

  30. I used to argue that the SS2O, Pershing /Cruise missile face off was not a crisis, as both sides knew and abided by the rules of the game. But after working for a while in Russia I realised I had totally ignored one crucial factor. The Russians have a completely different view on things to a Westerner.
    After centuries of brutal foreign and domestic oppression and hardship, the Russian people have learned do as they are told and to accept whatever they are told.
    The Russian version that their forces chased off a threat to the Russia fundamentally feeds into the paranoia of the people and serves to reinforce support for Putin, the Defender of the Motherland and his “gun’s before butter” policies.
    Let me give an example. We had an interpreter. He was ex Spetsnatz. His role would have been sabotage in either West Germany or England. That is why he had been taught English, hence working as an interpreter.
    I rarely ever discussed anything polticial but on one occasion he said something I simply could not let go. He unwaveringly believed Stalin had almost singlehandedly defeated Hitler. That the UK and US only entered the War when the Red Army was almost at the German border. He was absolutely adamant the Allies had only fought Hitler when he was beaten to steal the Nazis secrets. I showed him the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, I showed him pictures of the Blitz when Britain stood alone, I showed him photo’s of Russian trains taking oil to Germany being passed by German forces at the start of Barbarossa. His response?  All lies! The internet was a vehicle for Western deceit and propaganda.
    This was a man who been fairly senior in Soviet society. He was intelligent. I realised if somebody like him could deny undeniable historical fact, the average Joe would believe anything.
    The psychology of Russians and just how deeply different their logic system is should never be underestimated.

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