In the Navy\u2019s account, HMS Mersey was activated three times and worked with a Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron to track the frigate Admiral Grigorovich, the landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin<\/em>, and the Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mersey<\/em> and Tideforce<\/em> then worked with Belgian, French, and Dutch aircraft and ships as the Russian group moved eastbound through the Channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In parallel, HMS Somerset and a Merlin helicopter monitored the destroyerSeveromorsk <\/em>and its accompanying oilerKama, watching them from near the coast of Brittany through the Channel and into the North Sea. \u201cOur ability to provide a presence to monitor Russian activity in U.K. water is no small feat,\u201d Lieutenant George Hage said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key element of the story is what happened next. The Royal Navy said HMS St Albans<\/em> briefly joined Somerset to formally hand over duties for Operation Ceto, described as the U.K. ‘s standing operations for strategic deterrence protection and monitoring potential submarine activity in the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somerset is set to begin about four months of operations in the North Atlantic, aimed at monitoring submarine movements and protecting critical undersea infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a reminder that today\u2019s maritime competition is not just about surface ships you can photograph from shore. It is also about quieter activity under the waterline, where detection is harder and response options are narrower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somerset\u2019s commanding officer, Commander Matt Millyard, framed the near term as a workload challenge rather than a one-off spike. \u201cThe months ahead promise to be a complex mix of tasking for the ship but we are ready,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Royal Navy emphasized that allied support was part of the picture, particularly aircraft and ships from Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. In practical terms, that shared presence reduces gaps in coverage and lowers the chance that a vessel of interest slips through a seam between national patrol areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This also fits a pattern seen repeatedly since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, where NATO members track Russian naval groups as they move past chokepoints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In March 2025, for example, the Royal Navy described a three-day mission in which HMS Somerset<\/em> monitored a Russian corvette and a merchant ship moving through the Channel and North Sea, working with allied forces and U.K. patrol aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the public, these shadowing missions can seem abstract, like distant chess moves. For naval planners, they are closer to air traffic control \u2013 constant, detail-heavy, and unforgiving if you lose the plot for even a short time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Admiral Grigorovich<\/em> showed up in more than one headline this month. Reuters<\/em> reported that the frigate escorted two oil tankers sanctioned by Britain<\/a> through U.K. waters in the English Channel, and that the U.K. used a patrol vessel, helicopter, and tanker to report on the Russian movements with allied support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That connection matters for business because it shows how maritime security and economic enforcement are colliding in the same tight geography. When a warship escorts commercial shipping, the legal and political calculations for any kind of interdiction get complicated fast, even if a government says it wants to crack down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moscow, for its part, argued that Russia has a right to protect its maritime interests from what it called piracy. The larger point is that shipping routes and sanctions policy are now tied to visible military behavior, which can add friction for insurers, shippers, and anyone tracking delivery risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is easy to treat \u201ccritical undersea infrastructure\u201d as a vague phrase, but it maps directly onto modern life. The International Telecommunication Union<\/a> says submarine cables carry about 99% of the world\u2019s Internet traffic, enabling everything from cloud computing to financial transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same ITU backgrounder estimates that, as of 2024, more than 500 active and planned submarine cable systems span the globe. It also notes that building a new cable can take more than two years, which helps explain why resilience and repair capacity matter as much as deterrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, NATO<\/a> has been trying to pull industry into the room, not just uniformed forces. In 2025, NATO said its Critical Undersea Infrastructure Network met in Sweden to deepen cooperation on protecting cables and pipelines, including through new sensing and monitoring technologies and better information sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most immediate takeaway is that this was not a one-day spike. The Royal Navy itself pointed to \u201csuch an increase in activity over the last few months,\u201d language that suggests more frequent tasking, not less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the government level, the UK has been linking surface ship movements to a broader concern about undersea surveillance and potential sabotage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reuters reported that Britain tracked Russian submarines for more than a month in the North Atlantic earlier this year as part of an effort to deter any malign activity near cables and pipelines, while Russia denied threatening that infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For businesses and tech operators, the practical question is how much redundancy and monitoring is enough. Most of the time, the sea looks calm from the coast and your video call works fine, but the systems underneath are not self-defending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The official statement was published by Royal Navy<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For 10 straight days, the Royal Navy kept close watch on Russian warships and a submarine moving through the English … <\/p>\nAlso Read: The object no one would stop for in the woods ended up holding a six-figure treasure, because an old aluminum can was guarding gold<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Operation Ceto and why submarines raise the stakes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NATO coordination is becoming the default setting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/indux.vozpopuli.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uk-navy-helicopter-warships-russian-vessel-monitoring-operation.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Commerce, sanctions, and the shadow fleet problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The tech stakes under the sea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: Samsung has been forced to stop one of the quietest things smart TVs do, and the real shock is how much they could know without clear consent<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
What to watch next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: The hot-water drilling system that sounded too extreme for Antarctica just broke through 3,413 meters of ice and reached a lake sealed from the world<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n