UK navy shadows Russian warships

[LV-426]

UK navy shadows Russian warships after 'high levels of activity'

"LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s navy said on Thursday it had shadowed seven Russian warships after detecting high levels of activity by Russian vessels off its coastline.

“The Navy has completed a concentrated operation to shadow the Russian warships after unusually high levels of activity in the English Channel and North Sea,” the Royal Navy said."

A little more from Sky News:

Royal Navy shadows Russian warships after 'unusually high levels of activity' in Channel and North Sea

 

I mean, normally I'd just put this down to Putin's usual games, i.e. poking Britain's defences as he often does with aircraft, but when you wake up in a country in lockdown due to the Coronavirus, watch an ambulance outside your neighbour's house with paramedics in full protective gear, the antenna are twitching a little more than usual.

What do others make of this?

[stevewinn]

Its the Russians doing what the Russians do, also probing our airspace at the same time.

It does seem unusual that we have 7 (9)  ships on station shadowing the Russians. four of them are type 23 Frigates. HMS Richmond, HMS Argyll, HMS Kent, HMS Sutherland, the others making up the group are HMS Mersey, HMS Tyne, HMS Echo, RFA Tidespring, RFA tideforce. Its clear if the Russians are playing games then the Royal Navy isn't.

 

 

 

[LV-426]

34 minutes ago, stevewinn said:

Its the Russians doing what the Russians do, also probing our airspace at the same time.

It does seem unusual that we have 7 (9)  ships on station shadowing the Russians. four of them are type 23 Frigates. HMS Richmond, HMS Argyll, HMS Kent, HMS Sutherland, the others making up the group are HMS Mersey, HMS Tyne, HMS Echo, RFA Tidespring, RFA tideforce. Its clear if the Russians are playing games then the Royal Navy isn't.

 

I know you're up on your British military matters, so I'm going to take some reassurance from your opinion on this one

 

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

They probe our airspace all the time, especially the area around the island of Bornholm in the Baltic. They do the same to Sweden. Sometimes our airforces help eachother in intercepting them.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[+and-then]

Little Vlad must be feeling more insecure than normal.  He should be riding a brown bear... shirtless of course 

[odas]

10 minutes ago, and then said:

Little Vlad must be feeling more insecure than normal.  He should be riding a brown bear... shirtless of course 

Damn right! He is riding the orange mule way to long, time to switch to a brown bear. Glad we agree on something.

[+and-then]

23 minutes ago, odas said:

Damn right! He is riding the orange mule way to long, time to switch to a brown bear. Glad we agree on something.

I thought Canada treated their mental patients with more skill and care...

[stevewinn]

2 hours ago, LV-426 said:

 

I know you're up on your British military matters, so I'm going to take some reassurance from your opinion on this one

 

Do you know what im no stamp collector. or maybe i am now. but i bought a limited edition signed by private pike actor Ian Lavender. and the stamp you've posted is one of them.

Got myself a Star Wars one as well.

[RoofGardener]

3 hours ago, stevewinn said:

Its the Russians doing what the Russians do, also probing our airspace at the same time.

It does seem unusual that we have 7 (9)  ships on station shadowing the Russians. four of them are type 23 Frigates. HMS Richmond, HMS Argyll, HMS Kent, HMS Sutherland, the others making up the group are HMS Mersey, HMS Tyne, HMS Echo, RFA Tidespring, RFA tideforce. Its clear if the Russians are playing games then the Royal Navy isn't.

 

Hmm... weeeelll.. the type-23 frigates are quite tasty. However, Mersey and Tyne are River-class patrol boats. Their most dangerous weapon is a 20mm canon ! HMS Echo is a survey vessel with - again - just a couple of 20mm canons. And the two RFA vessels are basicly oil tankers, albeit equipped with a helipad that could support a Merlin helicopter. 

Mind you, the Russian forces are pretty feeble in the grand scheme of things. Two decent Frigates, armed with anti-ship cruise missiles. Two corvettes, two landing ships (?!?), and some fuel tankers. 

All rather strange. 

[stevewinn]

1 minute ago, RoofGardener said:

Hmm... weeeelll.. the type-23 frigates are quite tasty. However, Mersey and Tyne are River-class patrol boats. Their most dangerous weapon is a 20mm canon ! HMS Echo is a survey vessel with - again - just a couple of 20mm canons. And the two RFA vessels are basicly oil tankers, albeit equipped with a helipad that could support a Merlin helicopter. 

Mind you, the Russian forces are pretty feeble in the grand scheme of things. Two decent Frigates, armed with anti-ship cruise missiles. Two corvettes, two landing ships (?!?), and some fuel tankers. 

All rather strange. 

Don't forget the Russian Tugs. They go no-where without because of the breakdown issues.

[odas]

51 minutes ago, and then said:

I thought Canada treated their mental patients with more skill and care...

They do. It's their day off so I am using it to bond socialy. Looks like it is working!

Edited March 26, 2020 by odas
Spelling, well, at least that's what I think it is.

[LV-426]

1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

Two corvettes

 

Now I'm really scared!

 

You can see why I leave military expertise to others...

[+and-then]

1 hour ago, odas said:

They do. It's their day off so I am using it to bond socialy. Looks like it is working!

A sense of humor is ALWAYS appreciated  

[odas]

3 hours ago, and then said:

A sense of humor is ALWAYS appreciated  

Hug?

[+and-then]

46 minutes ago, odas said:

Hug?

  

[odas]

2 hours ago, and then said:

  

Oh yeah, right. I forgett. A wave from 6 ft distance and a smile should do the trick.

[+and-then]

2 hours ago, odas said:

Oh yeah, right. I forgett. A wave from 6 ft distance and a smile should do the trick.

True... these days it's better than invading the space of others.  I wonder if our whole concept of social distance will be recalibrated after this?  

[Ozymandias]

18 hours ago, LV-426 said:

UK navy shadows Russian warships after 'high levels of activity'

"LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s navy said on Thursday it had shadowed seven Russian warships after detecting high levels of activity by Russian vessels off its coastline.

“The Navy has completed a concentrated operation to shadow the Russian warships after unusually high levels of activity in the English Channel and North Sea,” the Royal Navy said."

A little more from Sky News:

Royal Navy shadows Russian warships after 'unusually high levels of activity' in Channel and North Sea

 

I mean, normally I'd just put this down to Putin's usual games, i.e. poking Britain's defences as he often does with aircraft, but when you wake up in a country in lockdown due to the Coronavirus, watch an ambulance outside your neighbour's house with paramedics in full protective gear, the antenna are twitching a little more than usual.

What do others make of this?

Oh my God!!! Not another Cuban Crisis?! Were we that close to Armageddon? 

Or did they just pass through international waters and along a recognised sea route?

[Duke Wellington]

19 hours ago, LV-426 said:

UK navy shadows Russian warships after 'high levels of activity'

"LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s navy said on Thursday it had shadowed seven Russian warships after detecting high levels of activity by Russian vessels off its coastline.

“The Navy has completed a concentrated operation to shadow the Russian warships after unusually high levels of activity in the English Channel and North Sea,” the Royal Navy said."

A little more from Sky News:

Royal Navy shadows Russian warships after 'unusually high levels of activity' in Channel and North Sea

 

I mean, normally I'd just put this down to Putin's usual games, i.e. poking Britain's defences as he often does with aircraft, but when you wake up in a country in lockdown due to the Coronavirus, watch an ambulance outside your neighbour's house with paramedics in full protective gear, the antenna are twitching a little more than usual.

What do others make of this?

The Russians response when we do something that they find annoying is to annoy us back using their military forces.

Back when I was a young lad they used to keep us awake at night by flying their fighter aircraft and bombers over East Berlin causing the whole base to do a scramble. The first night it was funny and exciting, but after the fifth night in a row of getting our sleep interrupted we were starting to get quite annoyed with them.

Those Russians have a strange sense of humour. In their media they are claiming (along with China and Iran) that Covid-19 has been engineered by the UK and released by the USA. They also claim that us Brits have had a vaccine for over a year. I guess their paranoia is why now they think they must respond by sending a fleet into the North Sea lol.

[odas]

8 hours ago, and then said:

True... these days it's better than invading the space of others.  I wonder if our whole concept of social distance will be recalibrated after this?  

Maybe. Handshake is considarably a "newer" social thing anyway, mainly in europe. Eastern cultures bow, touch their own hands, or their chest. My bosnian ancestors greated others with the palm faced towards the other person and all 5 fingers streched, simmilar to the native american greating in movies. I still do that and then shake hands. Will stick to the first part now.

[hetrodoxly]

19 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

Hmm... weeeelll.. the type-23 frigates are quite tasty. However, Mersey and Tyne are River-class patrol boats. Their most dangerous weapon is a 20mm canon ! HMS Echo is a survey vessel with - again - just a couple of 20mm canons. And the two RFA vessels are basicly oil tankers, albeit equipped with a helipad that could support a Merlin helicopter. 

Mind you, the Russian forces are pretty feeble in the grand scheme of things. Two decent Frigates, armed with anti-ship cruise missiles. Two corvettes, two landing ships (?!?), and some fuel tankers. 

All rather strange. 

No problem, we crippled the Bismarck with a prewar Fairey Swordfish biplane. 

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

1 hour ago, hetrodoxly said:

No problem, we crippled the Bismarck with a prewar Fairey Swordfish biplane. 

Before that they also managed to sink an Italian battleship and severely damage two others at Taranto. Not bad for an "obsolete" fabric covered biplane.  Sadly the Royal Navy attack on moored Italian ships in the port of Taranto inspired the Japanese to try something similar.... 

Interestingly enough the reason why the Swordfish was able to get so close to Bismarck was because they were so slow. The German fire controls were aiming the guns too far ahead of the planes position.

As much as I love the exploits of the Royal Navy I'm still miffed at them for attacking Copenhagen during the Napolionic wars. Not just once, but twice.  

[hetrodoxly]

17 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

 Sadly the Royal Navy attack on moored Italian ships in the port of Taranto inspired the Japanese to try something similar.... 

You can't not do something because it might be copied, but it might have been a good thing as we wouldn't have got past throwing rocks at each other.

 

19 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

As much as I love the exploits of the Royal Navy I'm still miffed at them for attacking Copenhagen during the Napolionic wars. Not just once, but twice. 

I've never forgiven you for the Vikings, and not just once....

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

 

1 minute ago, hetrodoxly said:

 

I've never forgiven you for the Vikings, and not just once....

Call it even ? 

[RoofGardener]

5 hours ago, hetrodoxly said:

No problem, we crippled the Bismarck with a prewar Fairey Swordfish biplane. 

Actually, it took about 30 of them. 

Umm.. and we've only got ONE left  ?