For the second time in as many months a Russian warship has tested the Royal Navy ’s defences. HMS Mersey, an Offshore Patrol Vessel, was on a routine security patrol in home waters when she was called on to locate and monitor a Russian Navy craft, the Steregushchiy-class corvette RFS Boiky.
Mersey had taken over shadowing the Boiky’s progress through the Channel from a French navy ship. Officers aboard Mersey watched every movement as the corvette linked up with RFS Akademik Pashin, an auxiliary vessel, to refuel and transfer stores, before getting underway again.
A flotilla of seven Russian warships had loitered in the Channel in late March, before being escorted back into international waters by a group of Royal Navy Type 23 frigates.