The British navy said Thursday it tracked a Russian submarine navigating through the English Channel for three days, as it steps up efforts to police its seas against such threats.<\/p>\n
A British naval supply ship with an on-board helicopter was deployed to track the stealthy Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar and the tug Altay, the Royal Navy said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Russian ships had arrived from the North Sea and entered the Channel.<\/p>\n “Expert aircrew were prepared to pivot to anti-submarine operations if Krasnodar had dived below the surface,” the statement said.<\/p>\n But it sailed on the surface throughout the operation, despite unfavorable weather conditions.<\/p>\n “There is nothing like a Russian submarine to focus the mind for any mariner,” Royal Navy Captain James Allen said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Always watching…<\/p>\n A submarine hunting Merlin helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron and @RFATidesurge<\/a> were dispatched to track the movements of a Russian submarine in UK waters as part of a combined #NATO<\/a> response.<\/p>\n Read more: https:\/\/t.co\/KgYw14m5UK<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/GOA5Ex7q24<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) December 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Near the island of Ouessant, off northwest France, the British said they handed over monitoring of the vessels to a NATO ally, without saying which one.<\/p>\n Defense Secretary John Healey announced on Monday the launch of a multi-million dollar program to improve the Royal Navy’s capabilities in the face of Moscow’s “underwater threats.”<\/p>\n Healey said a\u00a0Russian spy ship last month pointed lasers at Royal Air Force pilots<\/a>\u00a0tracking its activity near U.K. waters, BBC News reported. The U.K. said the ship was being used for gathering intelligence and mapping undersea cables.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Thursday issued an ominous warning to his European audience at a speech in Berlin, declaring: “We are Russia’s next target.” Rutte said Europe must prepare for a confrontation with Russia on the kind of scale “our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.” <\/p>\n Separately, Britian’s armed forces minister, Al Carns, warned<\/a>: “The shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door once more. That’s the reality. We’ve got to be prepared to deter it.”<\/p>\n Increased Russian submarine activity off U.K. <\/p>\n According to London, Russian submarine activity in British waters has increased by about a third over the past two years.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the U.K. and Norway signed a cooperation agreement to jointly operate a fleet of frigates to “hunt down” these submarines<\/a> in the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n The British military carried out a similar shadowing operation in July, after spotting the Russian sub Novorossiysk in its territorial waters.<\/p>\n In January, Secretary Healey told Parliament the Royal Navy was tracking a Russian spy ship called the Yantar that passed through U.K. waters, warning Russia’s President Vladimir Putin: “We know what you’re doing.”<\/a><\/p>\n The\u00a0Royal Navy also revealed\u00a0<\/a>that in late December the frigate HMS Somerset had tracked a Russian naval group as it sailed from the North Sea to the English Channel, although the group had stayed in international waters.<\/p>\n In November 2024,\u00a0British jets were scrambled<\/a>\u00a0to monitor a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying close to U.K. airspace, just days after\u00a0NATO jets were mobilized<\/a>\u00a0when Russian aircraft were spotted over the Baltic Sea and off the coast of Norway.<\/p>\n In September last year, Royal Navy warships spent a week “closely shadowing” four Russian vessels in U.K. waters, while two Royal Air Force jets scrambled to intercept two Russian aircraft operating near the U.K., the navy said.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n \n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n \n