Royal Navy warships and helicopters spent 21 days on operations monitoring Russian activity in UK waters and the North Atlantic during July, with activations to track Russian units up 25 per cent across the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2025, the Royal Navy stated.
Four vessels were involved. HMS Somerset, HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn were dispatched alongside Wildcat helicopters from 815 Naval Air Squadron and Merlin anti-submarine aircraft to report on the movements of warships and submarines through the month.
The Russian frigate RFN Neustrashimy has repeatedly transited the UK’s area of responsibility escorting shadow fleet tankers within recognised traffic lanes, according to the Royal Navy, tying up operational capacity in guarding cargo. On 20 July the frigate conducted gunnery firings outside UK and French territorial waters while Portsmouth-based HMS Tyne was on task. The patrol ship moved to five nautical miles as the Russian vessel fired, continuing to gather intelligence and observing the fall of shot, which the service records as around twenty rounds from the frigate’s 100mm main armament along with fire from her 30mm battery.
Lieutenant Commander Sam Fields, commanding officer of HMS Tyne, said in the release that “through sustained presence and close cooperation with allies, HMS Tyne was ideally suited to this task”, providing reassurance and monitoring while allowing other fleet units to continue their commitments.
HMS Severn was activated twice during the month, first shadowing the frigate RFN Admiral Grigorovich as she sailed east from Ushant towards Dover, then taking over from HMS Mersey for a three-day mission between 23 and 26 July to intercept and shadow Neustrashimy. Severn kept watch as the Russian ship escorted the shadow fleet tanker MV Vulkan out of the Baltic, through the Dover Strait and towards Ushant, with the two British patrol vessels handing over again as Neustrashimy headed back east.
Lieutenant Commander Dom Jacobs, executive officer in temporary command of HMS Severn, said his crew had adapted quickly between the Fleet Ready Escort role and the ship’s training output as Fleet Navigation Training Ship, adding that this “shows the versatility of my crew and the other OPVs to deliver a range of tasks”.
The Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset returned to Plymouth on Friday 7 August after a four-month deployment monitoring surface and sub-surface activity in the North Atlantic, having covered more than 24,000 nautical miles. Her tasking formed part of the standing operation protecting the nuclear deterrent, and she deployed with an embarked Merlin from 814 Naval Air Squadron.
Commander Matt Millyard, Somerset’s commanding officer, said the deployment demonstrated what the Royal Navy exists to do, and that he was “immensely proud of every single member of the ship’s company” for work that included tracking submarines and operating alongside NATO allies and the Carrier Strike Group.
The activity follows the UK interdiction of the sanctioned shadow fleet tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel in June. Britain has sanctioned more than 500 vessels associated with the trade, and the Royal Navy notes Russian oil and gas revenues fell by 24 per cent year on year in 2025.
Neustrashimy is the lead ship of her class and operates from the Baltic Fleet base at Baltiysk, while Admiral Grigorovich belongs to the later Project 11356 series built for the Black Sea Fleet. The River-class offshore patrol vessels used to shadow them are lightly armed by comparison, carrying a 30mm gun and machine guns, and are routinely assigned to escort and monitoring duties in home waters.
“HMS Tyne was the ideal shop for this task”
You mean the only ship available for this task!
HMS Tyne would be the equivalent of sending HMS Victory up against a Dreadnaught!
If these patrol ships are going to be continuously sent to escort major Russian warships then it’s time they were “up gunned” with some ASM weapons.
Not sure you’re right.
No Russian vessel is going to starting firing at RN vessels during these confrontations. To do so would be an act of war, and the Russians know what the consequences would be.
HMS Tyne will have done a good job observing, listening, etc.
Not much point.
All 3 are still planned to be decommissioned next year!
I wonder what the RN and MoD have up their sleeves? As surely such an act of self mutilation, although common enough with HMG the way they’ve treated the military over the decades, is a step too far this time.
There’s nothing to replace them apart from the River B2s, which would be another act of self harm, as they’re doing a fine job doing the diplomacy presence flag waving soft power role once conducted by Frigates.
I’m sure the ‘plan’ is another capability gap….