The russian jets are seen flying so
close that the aircraft's electronics
could have been scrambled by the
portsmouth-based warships radar system
leaving the potential for them to crash. The documentary comes after russian
warships fired on and seized several
ukrainian naval vessels in the same area
yesterday. The clash prompted ukraine's president
to declare martial law sparking fears of
an all-out war between the countries.
Speaking of the british ship defense
secretary Gavin Williamson said over the
past year HMS Duncan and her crew have
embodied the key role the UK plays in NATO. As NATO flagship she has faced down
brazen russian hostility in the black
sea with jets buzzing overhead, been
stalked by russian spy ships and played
a vital role protecting nato allies
during the british. American and French
strikes against syrian chemical weapons
facilities.
Through her deployment this
world-leading ship and her crew
epitomized the nation we are going to be
as we exit the EU. A truly global britain
which is outward looking and engaged on
the world stage.
Commodore Mike Utley who is leading the
nato task force from Duncan said HMS Duncan is probably the only maritime
asset that has seen a raid of that
magnitude in the last 25 years.
He added, "I think their tactics are naive. what
they don't know is how capable the ship
is. when you see that much activity i
think it reinforces the nature of what
people expect at the moment and why
there is a challenge from russia".
The footage shows the jets circling the
ship before returning to russian
airspace with one of the pilots sending
a message to duncan's crew, saying good
luck guys. The documentary shows one of Duncan's
sailors saying they felt the message
could have been a warning to the ship
while another said, they had 17 aircraft, we have 48 missiles. I think we're going
to win that one.
Commander Eleanor Stack Duncan's Captain
said to me it felt unprecedented, There were more aircraft than we have
seen in a long time. Earlier Duncan had launched its Merlin MK-2 helicopter to hunt a russian spy
ship spotted on radar.
Lieutenant Commander James Smith said of
the nato presence in the black sea. "They may consider it to be escalatory we
certainly don't, but it depends on how you spin the
narrative. The one thing the russians are
very good at is spinning a narrative. We have to demonstrate and create our
own as well. They can scream and shout
all they want but we still have the
right as do all these units to be where
we are, operating how we are".
Subscribe Daily Post or Follow Google News to update information quickly or visit this Link: https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKML-1rAswzMDEAw
