The Ministry of Defence has set out further detail on the incident in the English Channel in which a Russian warship fired warning shots near a British yacht, saying the shots were intended to prevent a possible collision and were not aimed at the vessel, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said that “following attempts to contact a British vessel in the channel, the Grigorovich fired warning shots”, adding that these “were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision”. The department reiterated its assessment that the episode was “an isolated incident and not linked to the UK’s interception of the Smyrtos this weekend”, and confirmed that the Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey had been monitoring the Russian vessel, with support provided to the crew of the yacht.
The UK Defence Journal understands that the Admiral Grigorovich was displaying to other vessels that it was drifting rather than manoeuvring under power, a state that may have left it feeling more vulnerable to an approaching craft, and that after sounding warnings the frigate fired several warning shots, which were not aimed at the yacht.
It is not known why the Russian frigate could not move under its own power.
The shots are understood to have been single rounds rather than automatic fire.
The detail reframes the incident from the more alarming early picture, in which a Russian warship appeared simply to have opened fire near a British civilian boat, towards a more recognisable, if still highly unusual, encounter at sea. A vessel lying stopped or drifting has limited ability to get out of the way of another craft, and warning shots, sounded after other signals, are a recognised, if rarely used, means of warning off a vessel judged to be approaching too close. That said, the firing of any shots by a Russian warship in the vicinity of a British-flagged yacht in the Channel remains a striking event, in one of the busiest and most sensitive stretches of water in the world.
The Channel is heavily used by commercial, naval and leisure traffic alike, and Russian warships transiting to and from home ports pass through it regularly, shadowed as a matter of routine by the Royal Navy, which is why HMS Mersey was already monitoring the Grigorovich at the time. The incident took place around 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, in international waters, and the yacht reported no injuries or damage and continued on its way, with a seaboat from a second offshore patrol vessel, HMS Tyne, having earlier visited to check on those aboard.
The Admiral Grigorovich is the lead ship of a class of Russian frigates armed with anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles and a main gun.
The Ministry of Defence said its assessment that the incident was isolated and unconnected to last week’s boarding of the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker SMYRTOS, seized by Royal Marine Commandos and the National Crime Agency in the first UK-led operation of its kind, remained unchanged, and the UK Defence Journal will continue to report on the incident as any further detail emerges.
Leaving aside that it is completely unnecessary to fire warning shots at a cruising yacht- it was broad daylight and nobody attempting a channel crossing is stupid enough to drive into a slow-moving warship- what is a Russian frigate doing without power in the busiest shipping lane in the world? Not even the T45s in the height of their propulsion problems managed to break down in the Channel.
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Probably checking out cabling on the seabed or waiting for a tug? And you never know if they’re trying to provoke something. Really think the RN could do with some upgunned B1 replacements sooner than later and maybe more than three.
At the very least they could give the B1s surface launched Brimstones or some should fired missiles.
Gears stuck in neutral?
Don’t escorts drift while listening for subs?!
Well they weren’t looking for one of ours! I don’t think anyone would want to be operating subs in the channel after the repeated collisions with merchants even out in the western approaches.
I know!
But that Astute still surfaced next to Yantar, and the Russians seem thick as shit, so who knows.
Good point- sprint and drift or something similar I think?
Good luck hearing anything on sonar in the middle of the Channel, mind, with all those ferries and suchlike…!
Defence News or a similar channel noted that the frigate has been deployed for an extended period to ferry shadow tankers back a forwards- a supply ship has re-stocked them with food and suchlike at least once. But they can’t RAS fuel, so I wonder if they were drifting to conserve fuel and delay when they need to come off station and head back to base to refuel- not a lot of friendly ports nearby.
And now (from GB News contact) we have the actual yacht couple’s confirming words: saying there was really no fog; and the MOD wasn’t interested in hearing their story!! As TorpedoJ rightly queries the maritime wisdom of the frigate Master ‘drifting without motive power’ in a congested English Channel; who also appears to either be unaware that ‘Ship gives way to Sail’ or chooses to ignore it and purposely ‘Finishes with Engines’ so as he can blow his horn & fire warning shots; instead of correctly changing ship course to avoid what he believes is a potential collision from a yacht about 500 metres away???
The MOD are just trying to stop it escalating. I expect the Russians were exaggerating the situation, so they didn’t look like quite so large a bunch of dicks for shooting at OAPs.
Why are you excusing/appeasing the MOD from recognising, abiding by & calling for the international maritime law? Where were the two vessels in relation to one another and direction of movement? Did the frigate (as a powered vessel) head away from or towards the sailboat?
I am not excusing, I am explaining imo why
The Russian navy poses a grave threat to the UK when under power. 😂
I think we can see why the Russians normally deploy a tug with their vessels transiting European waters.
But seriously guys we need to bankrupt the nation to be ready for a Russian invasion in 2030.
Let’s spend 5% of GDP, get our selves that seat at the top table.
No! No! Far better to use taxpayers money to subsidise offshore production of windmills in pursuit of entirely unevidenced and strange CO2 emissions targets because, because…? Got to make sense…or not really…
After all, when was the last time we had UK citizens murdered on British soil by CBRN agents, war in Europe, UK undersea infrastructure threatened, British industrial sites listed for ballistic missile attack, arson attacks sponsored by foreign powers, shots fired in the English Channel…
Two things can be true at once. Defence is important, so is having our own energy independence. I too would like to see more spent on defence but not at the expense of energy independence. It can come out of the triple lock pension budget.
Windmills, solar require back up. Nuclear cannot provide back up, needs to work at 80% load. Battery storage has stratospheric through life costs. Tidal is expensive, unproven at scale in Britain.
Net zero has nothing to do with energy independence and everything to do with dotty wilfully misunderstood science to achieve radical social objectives.
Get rid of net zero immediately and fund defence properly or Britain’s domestic and foreign policy, as we have seen, will be dictated from overseas.
Get rid of netflix zero?
No point in defending our islands if they are under water/on fire/a frozen wasteland due to climate change
Haha. Please tell me what factors made climate change before industrial era and how you distinguish them?
I accept the peer reviewed science. You know the same peer review system that produced all the tech behind the digital device you are using to deny science.
So you choose to not have agency about science. Your filters to detect issues are turned off.
It is enough the word science tag. It is a form of modern educated cargo cult: Science=Truth forgetting how much scientists have been wrong historically and
how many of peer reviewed science is wrong or unproven.
Google AI:
Estimates suggest that a significant portion—often cited as roughly one-third or more—of published scientific research contains major flaws, false positives, or irreproducible findings.
Peer review was not originally designed to catch fraud and is heavily subjective; it serves as a quality-control filter rather than a guarantee of absolute truth.
Why Flaws Slip Through Several systemic issues contribute to the amount of incorrect science reaching publication:
The Replicability Crisis: Landmark studies in fields ranging from oncology to psychology have notoriously low independent reproduction rates.
Publication Bias: Academic journals strongly favor “positive” (groundbreaking or statistically significant) results. Negative or null results, which are just as vital, often go unpublished.
Statistical Manipulation: Researchers may engage in “p-hacking” (tweaking data analysis until a mathematically significant result is achieved) to get published.
Unpaid, Rushed Reviewers: Peer reviewers are volunteers who often review papers in their spare time, meaning they may not have the capacity—or access to raw data—to thoroughly verify every calculation or detect fraud.
Ignore any and all posts by Monro on energy. He refuses to look at the ral (public and easily accessible) data and instead regurgitates scientific-sounding arguments from a book which are designed to be disingenuous and hard to follow (despite also being absurd to anyone who has actually studied the field).
You clearly haven’t read the peer reviewed science:
‘One of the most striking features of Earth’s climate history is its rhythmic natural structure. Throughout the Holocene, we observe:
multidecadal oscillations (~60 years),
centennial fluctuations,
millennial‑scale cycles such as the Eddy cycle,
and the Hallstatt–Bray cycle.
These patterns appear in ice cores, marine sediments, tree rings, and historical documents. They also correlate with solar and astronomical proxies.
These cycles are not speculative; they are among the most robust features of paleoclimate research.
Yet current GCMs (climate models) do not reproduce these oscillations with the correct amplitude or timing.
This is not a minor detail. If models cannot capture the natural background variability of the climate system, then attribution regarding the global warming from 1850–1900 to the present becomes inherently uncertain, because any unmodeled natural contribution to the warming (for example due to solar activity increase during the same period) necessarily reduces the fraction of warming that can be confidently assigned to anthropogenic forcings. And if the anthropogenic contribution to past warming is smaller than assumed, then its contribution to future warming — and therefore the associated climate risk — must also be proportionally reduced.’
Nicolas Scafetta March 2026
Anything less likely to make us energy independent would be hard to imagine. Government net zero objectives are the reason why we currently import most of our oil and gas from Norway, derived from oil and gas fields adjacent to Britain’s own Exclusive Economic Zone. We now import 15% of our electricity from France, a major reason why Macron has so much leverage on our foreign and domestic policies:
‘An official at the Elysee Palace, Mr Macron’s official residence, told French newspaper Liberation: “We had to make a clear threat so that he would finally budge.”..French insistence that the UK tighten its restrictions was apparently accompanied by an additional warning that other EU countries would also close their borders to Britain.’ March 2020
This is what net zero is really about:
‘Just and fair transition. Just Transition Fund to invest in diversifying economies and re-skilling workers in vulnerable regions
Social Climate Fund helps vulnerable households with energy efficiency, clean heating, and transport
EU Solidarity Fund and EU Civil Protection Mechanism supported countries in Europe and beyond when struck by climate-related emergencies
Carbon pricing and industrial reform. Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that encourages industries worldwide to embrace greener production methods, should be fully operational by 2026
Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, inclusive process shaping future food systems’
‘The European Green Deal Striving to be the first climate-neutral continent’ 2019
And this is what it will cost the ‘triple lock pension budget’:
OBR: ‘Our latest central estimate of the fiscal cost of climate change mitigation through to 2050-51 is £803 billion (21 per cent of GDP), or £30 billion a year on average’
Others:
Hammond: total cost of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy was likely to be in excess of £1 trillion.
Estimates from the Climate Change Committee (CCC): £50 billion per year
Estimates from Business and Energy Department: £70 billion per year.
Over a 30-year period these estimates would amount to a cost of £1.5 trillion to £2.1 trillion.
Take a look at the latest figures, which give the income needed for a basic standard of living on a pension. I very much doubt whether you would be shouting for triple lock to be scrapped. if you had to live on it. I hope you are putting twenty percent of your current income in your pension pot. You will need it.
Consider that, statistically, the majority of people in the UK are worse off than pensioners.
So yes, I do think the triple lock (which guarantees that pension spending will only ever rise and eventually become the entirety of public spending) needs to go.
The country cant afford a seat at the top table. Shrinking economy, cost of living crisis, rising unemployment. While I agree defence needs to increase, it has to be affordable and should not make life even harder for the public. The UK should step back and stop trying to play major roles it cannot afford to and look after the population in ways that matter like health, educatoon etc. Russia is not likely to invade England anyway.
We have undocumented military age men coming to the UK causing significant crime. Best way to protect the country is to stop legal and illegal migration. Also, we should cut benefits for all foreign people living in the UK to zero and charge them full cost for the use of the NHS. We should also, cancel the triple lock and get idle Brits off benefits (maximum of six months benefits and if they don’t take any job then their benefits get cut to zero). We should have child benefits only for the first child and zero cash after that as well.
The thing is. Despite the doom and gloomy around our Armed Forces, and some peoples view that they are little more than Dad’s Army. We already are at the top table and have been for decades. An independent nuclear power. Permanent seat at the UN security council. 2nd most capable Armed Forces in NATO alongside France. Far reaching security and intelligence services. The list goes on. Lots of areas need considerable investment in our capabilitys, Industrial capacity and tech and manning for future conflicts. And I think Russian is a greater threat in the grey zone rather from conventional capability. In Ukraine, they have been embarrassingly incompetent. The sheer number of deaths and casualties for what little if anything they have gained is scandalous and a utter waste of life.
Don’t come around here with reason and logic. This is not the place for objectivity. If you continue with this kind of thinking it will inevitably result in you being banned. The correct course of action is to be OUTRAGED and be permanently ANGRY. Also, you should demand the fitting of 18 inch guns to tugs at all opportunities. This is an official written warning and will go your permanent HR record.
Captain Pugwash RN (deserted)
Cheers Ron 😆
The russians must have been surprised with the sight of a yacht instead of the usual river OPV
Poor Ivan, Why do we keep bullying them; they mean no harm? I hope we send a letter of not-so-sincere apologies to Moscow.
We should be broadcasting this all over the world to show Russia for the farce they are.
Instead our own media is busy telling everyone how Prince of Wales “broke down” despite the mechanical issues having happened and been reported ten days earlier.
Dare I say GB news and Talk Tv are all over it?
Why did the Russian Frigate not obey the still current maritime law of the seas that “Steam gives way to sail” ; without firing any shots at all? HMG should be asking that question, instead of excusing Russia!!
Yes exactly Powered vessels give way to sail
What was happening on open radio Channel 16 between yacht and the RFS warship
What was this Russian frigate firing near a small yacht directly south of where the siezed shadow tanker is moored just outside our territorial waters
The military know The intelligence services know Provocation? as Putin thinks were weak.
Russia please do not underestimate the British even though at present Govt is proving to be weak and preoccupied
Please Starmer prove me wrong!
Morning mate.
I think your SatNav Is a little off with the Tankers location, It’s Off Portland rather than I.O.W. but I’m only taking the piss 😁😁😁
Back home In Darkest Cambridgeshire now, plotting my next trip to the coast and maybe some more Russian Ship spotting.
Got another trip to Dover at some point where I plan to “Dangle my Tackle” off a suitable rock.
You never know what you are going to catch In the English Channel nowadays !
Stop boasting
A gerat white might jump out and takr a nibble of what is most precious to us men or you could be lucky and it a might be a mermaid😁
We’ll just “Suck It and Sea” then.
(correct spelling given the mermaid)
Thanks, Smickers, for like-mindedness. Besides weak Starmer speaking out to the Russians publicly; he should rebuke his new Defence Minister’s pathetic, appeasing statement by telling him to instead tell the Russians to order the frigate Master in future to “Start engines; change course in accord with the international maritime law of the seas to avoid a collision by “Ship giving way to Sail”; and NO FIRING (just use your horn, if you are still concerned for your safety)!!
All Adds, Rightly or Wrongly to The Perception of British Weakness…! Makes life Extremely Difficult for the MOD And the Foreign Office.. Globally….!
Stuff shit into the air had to come back down again, at dangerous velocity, not good in a busy area like that.
Stuff shit into the air had to come back down again, at dangerous velocity, not good in a busy area like that.
Shit? Eh, I typed ‘shot’
It still got the message across.
I Shit you Shot !
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If anyone had doubts about Starmer’s inability to be prime minister, then look no further than his behaviour today. A true gentleman gave his farewell speech in parliament today, telling the House the DIP is not fit for purpose, and at the same time the Russians opened fire on an innocent craft in international waters in the English Channel. Starmer’s response was, ‘There will be no more money for defence,’ yet he has been the one who says the UK must spend more on defending the realm! The man is incapable of telling No11 to buck up and find the money and get inventive in finding ways to achieve it. How much longer can his Chamberlain approach to danger last, as Labour will probably lose to the Reform Party this weekend, leaving defence in an ongoing mess?
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Must’ve looked like a Japanese torpedo boat.
Did the Russian captain throw any binoculars in the sea?
It’s OK chaps, I’ve been converting my RC Carp fishing Bait Boat and painting It Grey…..
Just Gaffer Taped a box of Fire Crackers to the bow and I’m waiting for her to pass Portland Bill on her return to Russia.
There may be some fireworks ! 😁
🎇🎇🎇
For months – if not years – I have posted here that we need to sink Russian ships that take the piss by running the Channel. A few nautical miles S of HMNB Partsmouth and HMNB Devenport. We didn’t and now Russian frigates are firing on unarmed British yachts trying to do the Admiralty’s job for them
This is a country with which we are already at war. The Salisbury nerve gas outrage. The frequent explosions at warehouses holding war materiel destined for Ukraine. Using paid proxies to outwit the Security Service while undetaking arsonist attacks on the Prime Minister’s property etc. etc.
The MoD civil serpents, who waste countless £billions on procurement cock-ups and who have scrapped British military capabilities to save their jobs, have led us to this pathetic state.
“The Ministry of Defence said its assessment that the incident was isolated and unconnected to last week’s boarding of the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker SMYRTOS”
So that’s alright then. For a moment there I was worried
What a load of crap !
Sorry, couldn’t resist 😂😂😂😂😂
Par for the course with David’s comments 🙂
Both the Royal navy and the Russian navy have seen better days… this is the conflict of the poors
Sky are quoting the retired couple sailing the yacht as saying the Frigate fired warning shots when they were around 500 yards away, not the 150 the Russians are saying. The frigate was also drifting.
Two points: the new frigates can’t come soon enough and it would help if we didn’t waste £billions. HS2 and Ajax come to mind
As HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian the MOD/Govt must know exactly what happened so why don’t they just come out and tell us?
The people on the yacht have spoken to GB news and plainly said they were no closer than 500m and there was no possibility of a collusion at any time!
I think the GOV/MoD and Media are trying to downplay the seriousness of the incident. They are “gas lighting” the Public because they know the UK does not have anything available to challenge the Russians.
Time for the UK to set-up coastal anti-ship missile batteries. Yes go and buy some dodgy Exocets on the arms markets, or dust off the Harpoons from the marine salvage stores. Just do it quickly.