Game of shadows: UK’s warships track Russian vessel Yantar through UK waters

January 23, 2025, by Fatima Bahtić

Two warships have tracked a suspected Russian ‘spy ship as’ it sailed through waters close to the UK, the Royal Navy revealed.

As disclosed, the Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset and patrol vessel HMS Tyne shadowed Yantar, believed to be used by the Russian Navy for intelligence gathering. The frigate launched its Merlin helicopter, which used its sensors to locate the Russian ship as it made its way north toward the English Channel.

The navy said that the vessel closed in on Yantar’s location and intercepted it at the entrance to the Channel, south of the traffic separation scheme at Ushant, near France.

This Plymouth-based warship, which entered service in 1996, took over monitoring duties from NATO after NATO fleet shadowed Yantar in waters close to France.

HMS Somerset has kept a constant watch on a Russian naval group during December, when Russia’s corvette RFS Soobrazitelny and its two support vessels, MV Sparta II and MV General Skobelev were encountered in the North Sea.

“This is routine business for HMS Somerset’s ship’s company and the Royal Navy, but it is nonetheless vital work for the UK’s security and I am proud of the professionalism of my crew,” Somerset’s Commanding Officer, Commander Matthew Teare, said.

Patrol ship Tyne was also monitoring Yantar – last in waters around the UK in November when its activities were monitored by several Royal Navy’s units.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of data cables, oil and gas pipelines, electricity cables for wind power and interconnectors that run under the sea, to the wealth and wellbeing of our island country. We are proud to play a part in protecting these vast networks that are out of our sight and often out of our minds, but are so vital to our nation and allies,” Tyne’s Commanding Officer, Commander Hugo Floyer, added.

Prior to the operation monitoring Yantar, tanker RFA Tidesurge and a submarine-hunting Merlin helicopter—814 Naval Air Squadron’s Swordfish Flight—shadowed surfaced Russian submarine Novorossiysk, and frigate RFS Boiky, as they headed north up the English Channel over the course of a few days.