Periscope near Royal Navy’s submarine base at Faslane, with Russian squadron?

Maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) from France, Canada and the U.S. conducted patrols in conjunction with British surface warships in the search for the submarine in late November and the first week of December, operating out of RAF Lossiemouth in northern Scotland.   The aircraft and supporting airlifters arriving around Nov. 26. The deployment appeared to end last December 6.

The incident began when a periscope was sighted in waters where U.K. and other submarines would normally surface as they head into or out of the Royal Navy’s submarine base at Faslane, home of the U.K.’s ballistic missile submarines.   On Nov. 28, the U.K. reported it was tracking four Russian warships passing through the Strait of Dover and into the English Channel heading out into the Atlantic. 

At the height of the operation, aircraft involved in the hunt included two U.S. Navy P-3 Orions, a single CP-140 Aurora from the Royal Canadian Air Force and a Dassault Atlantique 2 of the French navy. Also involved was one of the U.K.’s Raytheon Sentinel radar-reconnaissance aircraft.

[December 4 Russian squadron with Tank Landing ship Aleksandr Otrakovski enters the Mediterranean]

Russian sailors stand in formation in front of their Russian navy frigate Smolny at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire, western France, November 25, 2014. 

Russia’s Northern Fleet convoy of warships and auxiliary vessels led by large submarine chaser Severomorsk has entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Straits of Gibraltar, 

November 29 The Russian ships are transiting  the Channel
Lieutenant-Colonel Jay Janzen, NATO's military spokesman, said the alliance was aware of the Russian ships' location.

"Our information indicates that the ships are transiting and have been delayed by weather conditions. They are not exercising in the Channel, as some Russian headlines would have us believe," he said.   German Chancellor Angela Merkel , on the eve of the November 30 Moldova elections warned Russia not to interfere in post-Soviet states, including Moldova.

Squadron includes BDK-55 Aleksandr Otrakovski BDK LST 775 Ropucha Northern 1977 121st Landing Bde   The Ropucha (toad), or Project 775 class Tank Landing ships are classified in the Russian Navy as "large landing craft" (Bol'shoy Desatnyy Korabl). They were built in Poland in the Stocznia Północna shipyards, in Gdansk. They are designed for beach landings and can carry a 450 ton cargo. The ships have both bow and stern doors for loading and unloading vehicles, and the 630 m² of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. Up to 25 armored personnel carriers can be embarked.The 28 ships of this type where commissioned from 1975 to 1991.

[November 28 Russian Navy  foray into Channel isn’t “alarming, it’s normal maritime traffic.”]

November 28, 2014 14:10 

At least four vessels led by the anti-submarine ship Severomorsk plan drills in the expanse of water separating England from continental Europe.

. NATO said the foray isn’t “alarming, it’s normal maritime traffic.”
 Severomorsk «Североморск» 30 December 1987 In service with the Russian Pacific Fleet.

The Udaloy class are generally considered the Soviet equivalent of the American Spruance class destroyers. There are variations in SAM and air search radar among units of the class. Based on the Krivak class, the emphasis on ASW left these ships with limited anti-surface and anti-air capabilities.

Russia’s currency USDRUB, +2.30%  on November 28 traded at 49.965 against the greenback, its weakest level ever..
 Bank of Russia on November 28 said it’s extending limits on currency swaps for the next two weeks in a move to discourage bets on a weaker ruble.
“When you combine the fundamentals that Russia is facing right now,” in the form of Western sanctions and the further fall in oil prices, “it’s going to limit how much [the central bank] can improve the value of the ruble,” said Jameel Ahmad, chief market analyst at FXTM



[February 25 2010 Marshal Shaposhnikov: Russian DDG to Somalia


On February 24, Russia's Pacific Fleet dispatched the large anti-submarine warship Marshal Shaposhnikov, a rescue tugboat and the Pechenga tanker to fight pirates off the Somali coast. 1155. Udaloy class (guided missile destroyer) Udaloy-7 +. 15.2.1986

D. (tons): 6,200-6,700 tons standard
8,200-8,900 tons full load
Speed (kts): 30
Dimensions (m): 163.0-164.0 meters long
19.3 meters beam
6.2-8.0 meters draft
M./Engine: COGAG: 2 M62 cruise gas turbines, 15,000 shp; 2 M8KF boost gas turbines, 45,000 shp; 2 shafts, 60,000 shp, 29.5 knots; 3'000 n.m/14 kts
Man./Crew: 296
Armament:
2 x 4 SS-N-14 or SS-N-22 Sunburn (1155.1)
(R: 90 n.m; S: 2,5 mach)
8 x 8 Kinzhal (SA-N-9) Total: 64
(R: 8 n.m; S: 3 mach; r: 10-12'000 m)
2 SA Kortik
1 x 2 AK-130 DP (130 mm)
4 x 6 AK-630 gattl. AA
(6x30 mm; 6'000 rds/m/mount)
2 x 4/533 mm Total: 30
2 x 10 RBU-Udav ASW RL (R: 1'200 m)
Helicopter KA-32
Electronics: Radar: MR-700 Fregat-A/Top Plate 3-D air search, MR-320M Topaz-V/Strut Pair air/surf. search
Sonar: Zvezda-2 suite with MGK-345 Bronza/Ox Yoke bow mounted LF, Ox Tail LF VDS
Fire Control: 2 MR-360 Podkat/Cross Sword SA-N-9 SAM control, 2 3P37/Hot Flash SA-N-11 SAM control, Garpun-BAL SSM targeting
EW: Start-series suite with Wine Glass intercept, Bell Shroud intercept, Bell Squat jammer, 2 PK-2 decoy RL, 10 PK-10 decoy RL


Compare DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class

Arctic Sea: Russia repeats S-300 delivery plan

Moscow has said it plans to fulfill a contract to supply the S-300 to Iran. The Arctic Sea, bound for Bejaia, Algeria, has again disappeared from AIS systems coming out of the English Channel. This freighter was suspected last year of transporting arms destined for Iran. The S-300, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. The missiles have a range of 150 km (90 miles) or more and travel at over two km per second. Russia has delivered 15 S-300 batteries to China, Interfax news agency quoted Igor Ashurbeili, director general of Almaz Antei which makes the missiles. China, once the largest customer for Russian arms, has bought about 27 S-300 batteries from Russia beginning in the 1990s, the “bare minimum” for its arsenal The new contracts to deliver the S-300 to China were signed in the mid-2000s and each battery usually costs about $120-$150 million. That indicates the value of the Chinese contract was about $1.80-$2.25 billion. Russia has a more advanced air defense system, known as the S-400 "Triumph," and Ashurbeili said the country's armed forces were expected to receive the third battery of these "any day from now."

A senior Russian general said last year that Moscow was now developing a fifth-generation, surface-to-air missile, the S-500, which would be able to implement the tasks of both air and space defense.

Officials have said that the new system would be capable of engaging ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 km (3 miles) per second. here

Arctic Sea: Christmas in English Channel

Turned AIS transponder off after leaving Setubal around 12/22/2009 6:27:54 AM (UTC)and back on again on entering English Channel around 12/25/2009 12:50:35 AM (UTC)