It was revealed that a Royal Navy warship collided with a Russian submarine while patroling the North Atlantic Ocean in late 2020.
The collision occurred when the Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland was looking for a submarine that had disappeared from the sight of ships in the Arctic Circle.
The submarine collided with the warship’s sonar and caused damage. This is a device that is towed hundreds of meters backwards, fitted with a sensitive hydrophone for listening underwater. As a result, the warship had to return to the Scottish port to exchange sonar.
The incident was filmed by a documentary crew on the British Channel 5 television network, who filmed a series called Warship: Life At Sea.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) usually does not comment on the operation, but confirmed the incident because it was caught by the camera.
“In late 2020, a Russian submarine being tracked by HMS Northumberland came into contact with towed sonar,” a MoD spokesman said.
“The Royal Navy regularly tracks foreign ships and submarines to ensure British defense,” he added.
Conflicts between Russian and Western troops are not uncommon.
In June 2021, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender, which was part of a British carrier strike group led by the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, was involved in an incident involving the Russian Navy after the Russian Navy sailed near Crimea. I did.
The Kremlin claimed that a Russian ship fired a warning shot as it passed through the disputed part of the Black Sea last week. The British government only claimed that regular “bombardment exercises” had taken place.
Witnesses reported that the Defender was struck by Russian military planes and heard the sound of naval gunfire from Ukraine’s Odessa towards Georgia.
Recently, the strengthening of Russia’s military power at the Ukrainian border has raised Western concerns about the possibility of Russia’s aggression.
Foreign Minister Liz Truss, who addressed the House of Commons on January 6, warned that Russia “has no justification” for its invasion of Ukraine.
She said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “fabricating” the “wrong story” of the security threats in the area to which the Kremlin was responding.
She argued that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a “massive strategic mistake” and “at a serious cost”, including the prospect of “cooperative sanctions”.
Britain is helping Ukraine “strengthen its defenses by joint exercises, maritime assistance, and training more than 20,000 military members,” Truss said.
She also urged Europe to reduce Russia’s dependence on gas, adding that Britain continues to oppose Nord Stream 2, a new pipeline that runs from Russia to Europe across the Baltic Sea.
PA Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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