Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[ganulv]

Happy Good Friday, and Easter too!

Thanks, and to you, too! During my stints in Latin America I got used to Good Friday being the holiday, so that’s a good thing to hear today.

[Stan]

Thanks, and to you, too! During my stints in Latin America I got used to Good Friday being the holiday, so that’s a good thing to hear today.

Yep, all of Europe is off today. I may in fact be the only Roman Catholic in Estonia and working

[AdamG]

The tense East-West standoff in Ukraine could reach a new level of escalation: underwater. According to a report from the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the United States Navy's marine mammal unit will be deployed to the Black Sea this summer, where American dolphins and sea lions could find themselves nose-to-nose with their Russian counterparts.

The paper reports that according to a statement by Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the US Navy's marine mammals program, twenty dolphins and ten sea lions will be in the Black Sea for one-to-two weeks this summer, conducting NATO exercises in a body of water that is traditionally been dominated by the Russian navy.

http://news.yahoo.com/russian-americ...141812435.html

[AdamG]

ISTANBUL — A Russian warship passed Sunday through Turkey's Çanakkale (Dardanelles) strait, possibly to the Black sea. The navy ship, named 'PM 56,' was being accompanied by Turkish coast guard boats during its crossing.

The vessel was apparently heading towards the Marmara Sea, but no information has been acquired as to its final destination.

http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/201...turkeys-strait

Note: 10 seconds of OSINT said that the PM56 is an Amur class floating workshop, homeported at Sevastopol.

See
http://wikimapia.org/20481303/PM-56-...ating-workshop
and
http://warshipsonthebosphorus.blogsp...pair-ship.html

Folks playing at home will find this blog of interest -
http://warshipsonthebosphorus.blogsp...&max-results=6


As well as
http://turkishnavy.net/

18 Apr 2014 6 Comments

Yesterday, on 17 April 2014, 3 Ropucha class landing ships have made a southbound passage trough Bosphorus. Either Mr. Assad is in dire need for Russian supplies and weapons or this is a diversion attempt from the Ukrainian crises.

and

The list of Russian warship movements in 2014:
Date Number Name Direction
02/01/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Northbound
02/01/14 156 Yamal Northbound
18/01/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Southbound
18/01/14 151 Azov Southbound
27/01/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
01/02/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Northbound
01/02/14 151 Azov Northbound
07/02/14 810 Smetlivy Northbound
10/02/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Southbound
10/02/14 151 Azov Southbound
20/02/14 150 Saratov Southbound
20/02/14 156 Yamal Southbound
26/02/14 102 Kaliningrad Northbound
26/02/14 127 Minsk Northbound
04/03/14 150 Saratov Northbound
04/03/14 156 Yamal Northbound
23/03/14 012 Olenegorskiy Gorniak Southbound
23/03/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
23/03/14 127 Minsk Southbound
03/04/14 012 Olenegorskiy Gorniak Northbound
03/04/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
10/04/14 150 Saratov Southbound
10/04/14 156 Yamal Southbound

I have archived the list of the Russian ship movements in 2013.

[AdamG]

A Russian intelligence-gathering ship has been operating off the U.S. East Coast and near the Gulf of Mexico for the past month, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“We are aware that the Russian ships Viktor Leonov and Nikolay Chiker are currently operating in waters that are beyond U.S. territorial seas but near Cuba,” said Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman. “We respect the freedom of all nations, as reflected in international law, to operate military vessels beyond the territorial seas of other nations.”

The Leonov is an intelligence gathering ship outfitted with high-tech electronic spying gear. The Chiker is an ocean-going naval tug that has been accompanying the spy ship on its mission.

http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...ting-near-u-s/

For Memory Refresher, see
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...4&postcount=17

[AdamG]

The Royal Navy has sent a Portsmouth-based warship to track a Russian naval vessel as it approached British waters, it has been revealed.

HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, tracked and met up with the Vice Admiral Kulakov, a large Russian destroyer, as it sailed past the UK.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/def...ters-1-6017646

Dragon deployed from Portsmouth last week to pre-position well north of Scotland in good time to respond to the Udaloy-Class destroyer’s deployment. She made contact with the Kulakov and is keeping an eye on the Russian ship’s transit south.

http://www.marinelink.com/news/milit...ish367789.aspx

[davidbfpo]

AdamG,

The occassional RN deployment to our northern waters to "meet & greet" a Russian vessel sometimes gets media coverage. We no longer have any maritime patrol aircraft, so a ship is sent.

IIRC last year and early this year a larger Russian vessel appeared and no RN warship was despatched until too late. It may even have anchored during a storm near UK territorial waters. The UK claims a twelve mile limit (except in a few places). Search Google on russian warship moray firth.

A lot of this activity is media hype, for many reasons, but to my knowledge none of the scrambled aircraft and ships actually respond to a Russian plane or ship actually in UK territorial waters.