The Royal Navy sent a frigate to intercept two Russian warships as they approached the English Channel.
Leading Seaman Jack Shanley, 23, who was inside HMS Monstrose’s operations room at the time of the incident said:
“I’ve been in the Royal Navy for four and a half years and this type of operation is exactly what I joined for.”
Montrose recently underwent a major £38m refit which included the fitting of a new ‘state-of-the-art’ air defence system, Sea Ceptor.
The Russian Frigates, RS Stoiky and Boiky were escorted by HMS Montrose and also the Ship’s embarked helicopter, a Royal Navy Wildcat HMA Mk2 from RNAS Yeovilton.
For this mission, the frigate is also equipped with a new Fleet Air Arm Wildcat helicopter from 825 Naval Air Squadron, based at Yeovilton in Somerset. It was sent aloft to record images of the Stoikiy and Boikiy.
“Royal Navy warships are always prepared to respond to tasking at short notice, so when the call came, Montrose was ready for action,” said Commander Conor O’Neill, Montrose’s Commanding Officer.
“The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, with the support of our NATO allies, constantly monitor the seas and skies around the UK, and our operations are part of that 24/7 watch to ensure the UK stays safe and secure.”
While Montrose followed the progress of the Russian ships, the RAF provided air support to watch over the operation.
Seeing those ships together really makes me long for the day when we get our first T26 into service. That Russian ship looks so much more modern. I know that it’s what’s inside that matters but the Admiral Gorshkov-class looks quite impressive, at least from the description in the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Gorshkov-class_frigate)
Type 23s may be getting on a bit but at the end of the day they still lack quite a punch with 4.5 inch gun, sea ceptor, harpoon and wildcat/Merlin. Plus its crewed by the best, most professional and loyal, sailors ever (I may be slightly biased there) which gives her a definite edge.
Pack quite a punch that should. Dammed autocorrect and its russian bias ?.
LOL. I agree 100% with everything you say, including the obvious Russian meddling with our spelling checkers.
It’s a good situation, T23 is good but with T26 looking to be even better I still can’t help wanting the future to come quickly, still crewed by the best in the world of course. I am a techie and a nerd admittedly so I always lust after bright new shiny modern things and definitely not disparaging T23.
stoiky and boiky? sounds like a comedy act.
damned right! Who says the Russians don’t have a sense of humour!
They are Steregushchiy-class corvettes rather than frigates. It seems Russia is planning to build 25 of them, so they are very much their version of the T31e. Armament looks good for the size of vessel and they have export orders to Algeria with a reported cost of around $125m. I wouldn’t have thought that would include armament but it does show what can be built for the money.
Ah. Thanks for the correction. For some reason typing Stoiky into Wikipedia took me to the Gorshkov-class page.
On to serious matters though – “RS Stoiky and Boiky”. Do we have any rhyming ship names and if not then why not? 🙂
Biter and Smiter? Archer class 🙂
Wow. That was quick – thanks Rob. Glad to see that we’re keeping up with the Russians.
at least e’re keeping up with someone
We only see Royal Navy ships escorting Russian ships through the channel but it’s half French, do they also do the same or are they not bothered?
The English Channel is ours to police, the French leave it to us because that’s the norm, it has been since we fought for naval supremacy with the French and Dutch and came out on top. So we have had naval supremacy of English waters including the channel since the late 17th century. And that still holds to this day. The Royal Navy not being able to send a ship for escort duties through the English Channel would be not just a PR disaster, it would be another nail in the coffin for British prestige. You know the Royal Navy… Read more »
and back it up with our own grand fleet. i’d laugh my bones off if her maj was to say that she would like to review the fleet. imagine the utter panic in the halls of power, i’d pay to watch all those clowns at the M.O.D and in parliament running round looking for ships, the victory would be painted grey, a cardboard gun put on the pointy end and be described as a destroyer! even the gosport ferry would be used.
The Magpie! Remember the mighty Magpie! Can it take a Tomahawk ABL?
😀
I seem to remember we only won the first of those under the Commonwealth and did not do so well under the return of the monarchy, at least until we got a Dutch King giving us priority in the great scheme of relations and brought such conflict mostly to an end and over time they stopped being a real competitor. So probably tempting fate.
and back it up with our own grand fleet. i’d laugh my bones off if her maj was to say that she would like to review the fleet. imagine the utter panic in the halls of power, i’d pay to watch all those clowns at the M.O.D and in parliament running round looking for ships, the victory would be painted grey, a cardboard gun put on the pointy end and be described as a destroyer! even the gosport ferry would be used.
Never underestimate the Gosport ferry.
mind you, those boikies(?) are a clear statement of ambition the ruskies intend to build AT LEAST t 30 of them, given the poor state of the russian economy its hard to gasp why we can’t do the same with the t31e
Because Putin would rather make out he is strong on the military rather than enabling many Russians to eat or get health care etc. When you are a dictator you can spend money you don’t have on things you probably should not and you do not have to care about your citizens. When you are a democratically elected government you have to be a little more careful on where money is spent.
Political will and At Teresa giving 36 billion to the EU and £16 billion a year away on foreign aid might have something to do with the perilous state of our navy. No money left once handouts have been given for national defence. I mean what do we want a navy for anyway? And we definetly do not need to remain a tier 1 military power at all.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44609494
The ‘HYS’ comments are not for the faint hearted! TH’s wet dream and a complete lack of understanding on defence issues. No votes in defence apparently. I doubt very much we will see an increase over already announced measures.
The RS’s Stoiky & Boiky may be modern looking , but it is interesting to note the amount of crud on the aft superstructure from the exhaust stack…perhaps they could be re-christened RS Sooty and Dusty ?? Also I think that in hindsight, the GBP 36 Bn early escape bribe to EU, will look relatively good value compared to 10 or 15 Bn a year for the next century or two…..and you get the added bonus of not having to put up with all the over-blown MEP’s spouting off!! They can go and find a real job instead, ..that is… Read more »
Kusnetsov has the same problem (remember those photos?) – Russian Navy engineers don’t seem to have a good handle on their fuel mix…
Cheers.