Putin's Military : Never Without Drama

"Submarines aim not to be detected -- it stops you completing  your tasks."

"Evasion in a submarine is really difficult when you're going up against something as capable as Merlin helicopters."

"The UK has always been really effective at anti-submarine warfare using ships, submarines and aviation."

Ryan Ramsey, former RN submariner, commander, Perisher training course

Russian subs were discovered to have been stalking HMS Queen Elizabeth (Image: PA)

Prompted by the stalking by a Russian submarine of the Royal Navy's carrier strike group, a helicopter hunt ensued in the search for the vessel, where Merlin helicopters were deployed to scramble in a search for the submarine as the group passed through the eastern Mediterranean. Two helicopters dropped sonobuoys -- special equipment designed to sink under the water to track submarines by listening for the distinctive sounds typically made by submarines.

Russian submarines are well known to be skulking about in the eastern Mediterranean setting off from the Syrian coast's Tartus naval base, Russia's deep-sea port in the Mediterranean, resulting from its inestimable assistance to Bashar al-Assad in quelling the rebellion raised by Sunni Syrian rebels. With Russian air cover enabling the Assad regime to wreak havoc on its own people, restoring the regime to its territory which had fallen to rebels and ISIL, Russia had secured both the Tartus naval base and an air base in Syria.

The suspected monitoring of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's new aircraft carrier, took place four days following a confrontation between HMS Defender, a Type-45 air defence ship and Russian forces, in the Black Sea. Moscow claimed it had detected the British ship entering its waters and had dropped warning bombs not to proceed further. The event occurred in open waters not far from Crimea which the Russian Federation had expropriated in its conflict with its one-time satellite, Ukraine.

It remains unknown whether the Russian submarine, thought to be a diesel-electric Kilo-class submarine from Russia's Black Sea fleet was ordered specifically to spy on HMS Queen Elizabeth, or whether it had been tracking UK fleet movements and its presence was suddenly discovered, taking both sides by surprise. 

The upshot was that two Merlin Mk2 submarine-hunting aircraft were ordered launched, one from HMS Queen Elizabeth, the second from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Port Victoria, a replenishment tanker. Both the American destroyer USS The Sullivans and Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen, allied vessels contributing to the carrier strike group were present, but whether they were involved in the submarine hunt remains as yet an unknown.

 

HMS Queen Elizabeth is now seen safely sailing in the Suez Canal (Image: Royal Navy/AFP via Getty Images)

 What is known is that one sonobuoy at the very least was dropped from the Merlins, operating in coordination with other anti-submarine assets in the group, including the two Type-23 frigates HMS Kent and HMS Richmond and the Royal Navy's deployed hunter-killer submarine, thought to be HMS Astute or HMS Ambush. Britain, it can be assured from its assets, is well prepared to meet Russia on its own terms.

No official confirmation arrived from the Ministry of Defence, which responded when asked, that "robust measures" are in place for the protection of the carrier strike group, on its first operational deployment. Military experts believe the Russian Navy operates only diesel-electric ships in the Mediterranean, maintaining its nuclear-powered submarines, capable of long submerged passages, exclusively in the North Atlantic.

Diesel-electric submarines are quieter than their nuclear-powered counterparts, operating only on battery power once submerged. They require periodic hovering near the ocean surface to run their diesel engines for battery recharge. As part of its maiden deployment HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed through the Suez Canal, on its way to the Red Sea from the Mediterranean.