British Warship Tracks Russian Submarine Amid Turbulent Relations | Life At Sea | Spark

let's have a photo it'll keep my mom [Music] happy HMS Northland is a Cutting Edge Royal Navy frig inbound height 180 ft where 200 Sailors live and work hi Jacob hello Chloe this is Daddy speaking heading to the Arctic Circle oh wow absolutely stunning in some of the worst conditions imaginable getting continually smashed by waves it was unsafe frankly we got to get on top of it worst cases things could explain our cameras have been given access to HMS northumberland's secret 4-month [Applause] deployment at a time of unprecedented pressure from the Russian military Russian bear is inbound at Red 160 it's a big big ass egg ball I hold one Russian surface vessel at the bearing of 275 North umberland must defend the UK from enemies who are visible she is a strange looking ship and Hidden Side by Side we submarine guys we are the Clos if we go to war quite simply it's too late and the crew must protect each other how have your feeling doesn't make you any less of a sailor we have Co on our from The Perils of Life at Sea Cass Cass C come to me last time aircraft visual red 160 tracking left to right North umland was ordered to help defend Royal Navy Flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth before beginning to hunt for a a Russian submarine we need to make sure that we can defend our [Music] homeland HMS Northumberland is at Sea on a 4month deployment 10 mil off the coast of Scotland Captain Tom Hobs is expecting new orders morning this morning as he starts his daily rounds me you're all right how you he's waiting for Intelligence on a Russian submarine that's currently under surveillance oh H sir how you doing I work quite hard to get around and know people and without my people this is just a a hunk of metal and plastic I can't comeand to me people unless I know them so I spend a lot of my time wandering around the ship just shooting the breeze one of the final stops on his tour is the Warfare team in the Ops room this room is what makes a warship a warship investigate the op acts as a conduit at a bringing together of information to allow me to make a decision it's a demanding job is high pressure and high stress when you're know the person making the decision everyone looks at you and I love it a few minutes later that is great Intel Navy command sends initial details about the submarine that's under surveillance SS class Russian submarine main purpose is anti-submarine Warfare and then trying to rig havoc this class of Submarine is one of the largest ever built and one of Russia's most dangerous and secretive the crew will need their wits about them hey as they wait for their orders up on Deck do you know where I'm supposed to put my stuff we're just leaving our stuff here northumberland's newest recruit is arriving quite nervous glad that I'm here sorry I've never been on board of 23 before 21-year-old Olivia titmas is a traine officer this is her first experience of being at Sea it's nice to meet you it's nice to be on board if not backing obviously cuz it's it's my first time on board a ship which is still a lot to take take in I suppose my dad's ex Navy served in Iraq Afghanistan so kind of had that kind of connection already really excited to be on board terrified I spos a little bit and just because I've got to learn a huge amount in a really short period of time once I've unpacked this is my home now my new room yeah there are definitely positives to being female and being in the Navy cuz you there's less of you there's less of you some of the men on North umberland share a cabin with up to 17 others but Olivia gets to share her room with just two women I'm going to take this one cuz I don't think I'll be able to get in there very easily I'm not the biggest say long story short this is James the Penguin and basically last Christmas uh my boy boyfriend's mom made two penguins and my boyfriend has Olivia the Penguin and I have James the penguin which is really sad but also really cute and so it's quite nice cuz when we're away it's kind of like having each other I suppose might as well make it a bit nicer look at that much more like home isn't it so [Laughter] cute the captain has received an update on the Russian submarine is everyone here and he's gathered his senior officers russing submarine there's an earth of a threat that we have to take it seriously so we uh have been directed to head up north probably the north of the Arctic Circle the Russians are in a location that I wouldn't want them to be so we have to deal with her and she has now become the priority Target [Music] the new intelligence suggests the Russians are heading towards sensitive Waters in the Arctic Downing Street has been notified and has ordered Northumberland to head north [Music] immediately good afternoon Northland come on also speaking so I want to take a couple of minutes just to say a little bit on what we're doing next our tasking is to the far north uh probably north of the Arctic Circle uh it will be cold likely it will be rough for quite a sustained period we head up north we need to be on our a game so you need to make sure that you're prepared and ready and that is all thank you very much the Russian submarine is currently ahead of north umberland but if the captain doesn't get his ship to the Arctic first vital British interest there could be under threat HMS Northumberland is heading north to the Arctic in pursuit of a Russian submarine it's a clear sign of the growing tensions between the UK and Russia in the region Britain's most senior military officer has warned of a threat posed by Russia there's a new risk to our way of life which is the vulnerability of the cables that Chris Cross the sea BS Captain can you um just pop up thanks thousands of top secret cables carrying nearly all of the UK's phone lines and internet lie on the seabed some of the most important go via the Arctic Circle its feared Russia's mission is to damage or hack into them in and Northumberland has been ordered to stop them like heading towards UK sensitive Waters there is a realistic probability it is conducted ations the prime ministers talked about the Russian threat to those cables and if the submarine took out our cables I guarantee everyone in this country would notice the impact we wouldn't have internet for weeks so Russia take care of the UK not by lobbing nuclear missiles into us they take care of us by disconnecting us from the rest of the world and so that can't happen and we have to react we need to protect our cables in the same ways that we used to protect ships going across the oceans the Russians are ahead of North umland and expected to be in the Arctic and in range of the cables in the next 48 hours but they're slower than Northumberland if the captain makes good time he might be able to overtake them going to be incredibly difficult incredibly difficult the Russian submarinas the upper hand [Music] I hate making beds it's my least favorite job but it has to be done today is training officer Olivia's first full day on the ship oh thank you it's a bit of like a baptism by fire but first time properly on board a ship how you feeling joying a bit overwhelmed my first night on board it was nerve-wracking cuz the pipes in the cabinet made the most horrendous noise honestly I thought the ship was about to S give it a couple days be fine yeah and then it was very cold they're not warm shipped so yeah that's not fun I don't know what's going on her first job is to learn her way around the ship's nine decks I'm just wondering around am I'm sorry I don't know I'm thank you I haven't learned names yet I'm I'm learning faces I'm more of a face person than a name person kind of hello you been that it before no I haven't no although Olivia is the least experienced member of the crew so50 okay what does that do as a training officer she's one of the most senior joining as an officer I think you're in a really privileged position of having that responsibility for other people hello hello weird suddenly having people call you mom you know having been in the Navy for more than I've been alive the even though it's her first day Olivia has her sight set on a long career in the Navy be nice to get to Commander Maybe but I'm not going to say that that's where I'm going but it's something that I'd like to at least explore need to kind of know as much as possible as quickly as possible thank you very much no problem thank you yeah the sea will be fru than expected we can expect eight be SE North umberland is only a few hours into the journey towards the sea cables but she's just had news a serious storm is on the way you have a few hours now to secure absolutely everything that is all the crew need to batten down the hatches hello Tim Langford has to make sure it happens just had a look at the uh the map uh we've had an update and actually we're going to be going into winds looking 40 to 50 knots let's get the team out make sure that everything's bed down I'll make my way around the ship and make sure that we're secure the sea team it's going to get rough really rough if it if it moves tie it down the crew have to fully prepare the ship we're getting into bad weather um so securing for C rounds really important make sure that we don't shake ourselves apart are you secure for C State 7 negative sir come on team you can be so much better than this oo so two deck not bad the mes de my life you secure in here go and secure the mess for se you join the Navy to do stuff it is we can't afford for stuff to get damaged more than anything we can't off people to get damaged all it takes is one big wave up on Deck the waves are beginning to swell the range is 450 y but bad weather isn't the only problem to get to the Arctic cables and back North umberland needs a full tank of fuel okay guys once you your kid Che if you fall into your position refueling at Sea from a tanker known as a Raz is extremely dangerous even at the best of times than sorry I making my Approach a bit nervous because of the weather conditions it is quite rough for us to be R in today certainly the roughest I've ever red in there's a healthy amount of respect you got to have for the situation because you you can't you can't joke around to this you get it wrong it'll go very wrong very quickly if you've fall into the water we're genuinely looking at not being able to rescue you simply because you survive long enough this is going to be horrible North umberland must sail within 25 M of the tanker but rough Seas make a collision more likely careful already down there R the fuel nozzle must be pulled across before pumping can begin keep it going and high wind are making it [Music] difficult of the L geted been slamming into a lot of w very hard but we're doing that as best we can step [Music] up there she go ising fuel compared the with the fuel nozzle locked in refueling can [Music] begin but there's less than an hour before the worst of the storm is due to hit I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or for the big screen all for free no subscription required that's confirm ship head read 102 five port wheeel on 11 knots log below deck northland's leading submarine Hunter Lee Ellis known to everyone as Taz has summoned his Warfare team hi guys I've got Taz with me all right guys give you a quick update most of taz's team are brand new and have never dealt with a Russian submarine before right guys um so the situation so far up to the north we've got this submarine heading up in UK sensitive Waters without going into the depths too much the Admirals uh back in London are discussing this around the clock 24/7 really important that we deal with it the Russians are attacking critical National infrastructure having the ability to affect our communication systems for me is a new form of warfare to do nothing is not an option strategically we are reacting you's going have a clue what to expect you just got to roll with the punches I guess take it as it comes do we just make sure that they're not doing anything that shouldn't be it'll be tough cuz um it won't be like training it'll be for real that's it make it happen [Music] the increasingly rough seas are starting to affect the crew no so I need to find out where the um be including Olivia cor all right thank [Music] you outside s b get C signat tablets there'll probably be like a few people that want them I reckon hello hello you look really busy but seasickness tablets which one do you on with it I've never taken them I've not been away at se sorry I can't do anything more I just need to lie here B stay where you are back on Deck the crew are trying to finish refueling see you can get your hands on it get your hands on it grab it by hand watch your feet watch where your feet are quite a tough R now northumberland's tanks are now at maximum capacity right we're done days and the race to the ca cables can resume we needed that's that's complete now straight line removed straight line [Music] removed they've now got enough fuel for the journey but the weather is getting worse woohoo here it comes that is massive that is huge to make it to the cables before the Russians Northumberland must keep her speed up but the faster they go the harder the waves hit the ship I don't think you'd get many sailors if it was always like this here we go the power of it it's incredible isn't it just destroy everything in its path if it wants to look at that that's about 10 m there a that's a big one that is huge the [Music] minutes into the storm the ship is taking on water where's it coming in from then every time we get away sir we're up against it leftenant Commander Marcus Adcock needs to get on top of it we won't stop it from coming in so it's about getting out if you're taking on water the 200 people here that's quite a dangerous place to [Music] be buckers I want people up here more than a chain as each Giant Wave hits the flood levels below decks are rising we start getting some more lads get some more buckets fre buckets cheers dick if you didn't know the was out about in the gune the floodwater is collecting under northland's main gun at the front of the ship explosives ammunition sea W they don't the harsh reality is we've got to get on top of it worst cases things could explode if water gets into the electrics one short circuit could cause a spark detonating the nearby ammunition and blowing a hole in the ship is coming down HMS Northumberland is still taking on water how do we keep on top of it there's only one Shore Fire way to reduce the impact of the storm and stop the flood going have a chat the captain and the bridge team and see if we can just reduce speed by a couple of knots and that's if the ship slows down [Music] I said W reducing speed or do anything help doing we should that it's going to cost them time oh so that's fine but it's the only way to keep the ship [Music] safe it's been an event for morning as the ship slows down the crew begin the clear up open the fridge and literally everything was just in the middle like in a massive ConEd pile did the mushrooms get squashed uh a few of them did but I managed to save a lot of them so not to that but it's just the pain getting it all cleaned up the last thing you want after the ship has essentially turned itself upside down inside uh despite our best efforts to secure for C St 7 to have to redo yesterday you cleaned everything wasted but all never wasted thank positively oh good [Music] time finally the storm be begins to subside H how's he looking up [Music] there says he's looking looking rather dry and Marcus and his team can relax oh joy this should all go in your citation do you know I was just thinking about MBE actually now they can get a proper look at the main gun weather's now a lot fer so effectively all we're going to do now is going have a look at the front oh yeah look at that oh it looks like someone's took a shotgun to it the Rubber seal around the barrel has been ripped apart by the weather taking some punishment though isn't it yes sir really as this time high seas lots of water into a small area it's just caused a massive over pressure and it's just effectively sort of impling the gun crucial for defending the ship is now out of action and must be made safe I guess it will just protect it um just stopping the elements getting in so right get yourself back in [Music] there North umberland is finally back up to full speed but with a full day sailing to reach the Arctic they need to make good time if they're going to catch up with the Russians today there's some welcome news for the crew get your a special delivery has just arrived come on J hurry up I always get M my wife's really good at it she always SS me things that I need and the person that gets more mail than anyone is Taz my daughter and my son draw about 10 pictures every single day uh and then just love to send them to me and my wife's got to constantly post it and and if she doesn't post it my kids get quite upset Taz won't see his children for over four months hi Jacob hello Chloe this is Daddy speaking so he sends bedtime stories to them once upon a time there was a deep dark Forest where monstrous trees gred I've left behind my wife I've missed yet another anniversary they're 6 years old my twins and I've had two solid Christmas periods with them so yeah I leave quite a lot behind so Charlie picked his best sword pack some sandwiches a big bottle of water you you can't mentally prepare for it you just do it you just accept it's your turn to go away uh and you have to deal with it as best as you can I miss you very much very nice very sweet my kids don't understand what I'm doing why it's important and why other their friends dads go home every night and I don't they're not quite getting there they keep asking when I'm coming home and why I'm not coming home [Music] North umberland has reached the northern edge of the Atlantic Ocean I'm leaving my Artic virginity today as am I it's 8:00 in the morning but the bridge is in total darkness 6633 magic number we're almost there they've arrived in the Arctic Circle my first time here we are some bre anyone wishing to view the northern lights are welcome on the bridge with the sun still far from rising the crew get their first glimpse of a spectacular [Music] display oh wow amazing absolutely stunning amazing being in the Navy allows you to go places that people might not normally be able to do and not a lot of people get to go to the Arctic Circle even fewer get to see the Northern Lights just incredible just incredible never seen so many stars in my life this is the great part of being in the Navy given people the opportunity I doubt they will ever [Music] forget Sunrise is around in the hour so the sun's Rising but it's not actually risen yet this is the furthest from home Olivia has ever been in the Northern Lights was absolutely amazing thinking about how much money people pay for those kind of experiences and I was there getting paid to be there boyfriend's very jealous that I saw them I think we've got about an hour and a half of sunlight today with the sun setting around 12:40 which is crazy the captains honoring a special Naval tradition for all first timers like Olivia have you been to the Artic before no come here you haven't crossing the Arctic Circle is known as getting a blue nose obviously due to the temperature so uh I'm just abusing my junior officers with a blue [Laughter] highlighter the flight Commander going to shout at me now no let's have a photo it'll keep my mom happy it's good times hi you're right now inside the Arctic Circle the crew must start preparing to protect the sea cables Britain relies upon off to find the Russians everyone's getting ready because we're apparently making a lot of noise apparent that's what I've heard as Olivia is learning the ship must be made as quiet as possible to have the best chance of hearing the Russian sub so what we're going to do now is spin around all the MS all the community areas with special attention on noise all right let's [Music] go okay that's what we that's what we're interested in when we're doing the anti submarine stuff it's the noise just a little bit tighter on them right really exciting to be part of submarine warfare Personnel even not really having a huge amount of a role massively important for my training it's a great ship I love it everyone wants her help and they want to help me learn things like this this is important one I so they just take that down it just stops IT banging around anything you can spot spot on you might think well what difference Isa going make but if there's five six seven eight of them around the ship okay all those little things banging along all gets uh transmitted through the hole sure everything SEC ships give off a huge amount of sound and as a type 23 North umland purpose is to do submarine hunting so it's good to go around and actually see how people prevent noise as it's important you know when hunting Russian submarines happy with that yeah so it was just tiny little bits wasn't it overall bloody good effort yeah cool after 2 days of sailing HMS Northumberland has almost reached her destination the next phase of the mission is to locate the Russian submarine and establish what threat it poses to Britain's communication cables the challenges facing us over this period is we could fail to track it uh she could then turn around and go back into the thing hang on I just been called by the P Point miles so it [Music] begins with news that the cables are now less than 20 mil away the team in the Ops room are about to begin their first ever hunt for a Russian submarine they want me doing draw a deep breath be sensible be confident and proud of what you can do it's the only questions let's do it that off sort of watched p stream the sonar Taz is leading the search using northland's state-of-the-art Sonar which can pick up sounds from hundreds of miles away I'm really Keen to track the Russian submarine but first we've got to get it on Sonar submarines are difficult to track you know they tactically scientifically already have the advantage by the fact they were under the water so they can wreak havoc yeah they they have the upan to start with Roger thanks every sound the sonar detects is being fed through to screens in the Ops rooms investigate un 3 552 bar1 at also watch P come left 20 0 0 for some of the guys in there this is the first time they've tracked a live submarine um so you can just see the enthusiasm one that's one yeah oh what's that yeah I know I just saw that myself the sonar team have just picked up a strange sound in the distance it's not what we're looking for it's a false [Music] alarm frequency shift they've picked up something else hang on hang on that looks like one to me what a suspicious noise is coming from somewhere nearby new contact confirm contact bearing 144 Conta continue east Southeast it's making a lot of noise which indicates generally it's quite close to us time 20 05 52 West increased to 12 knots the sonar team need to make a call it's coming directly towards north umberland and the Sea cables course of 113 speed 10 kns 065 it's the Russians side by side we're submarine guys oh W well team focus in now dra left we are V close to this thing she is burning through and they're heading towards the cables key thing is now what he [Music] does wel uh just keep make sure that speed stays at 10 knots HMS Northumberland is secretly tracking a Russian submarine as it heads towards the location of Britain's crucial communication cables in the Arctic it's now on my starboard quarter speed 6 knots the sonar team are monitoring the Russians every move now potentially just what 6,000 y away good well done excellent looking good [Music] down Mach down down but there's a problem down down down the sonar screens in the Ops room have gone [Music] blank got to try and understand what it is that's getting on without them it's impossible to track the Russians we've lost our primary sensor just completely failed so effectively what's going on outside is not able to come inside we won't have a hoping hell's chance unless that's SOA is [Music] working so it's here it's yeah [Music] so it looks like the sonar controls may have overheated so where's the bit you actually Chang it one of these is it yeah they need to get them working again L very complex machine which requires huge effort from a team to get it back up and running the pressure is there quite simply the sonar needs to work until they can get the sonar fixed they have no idea what the Russians are up to if we can have good Lookouts on the port side their only choice until then is to keep a lookout in case the Russians come near the surface you're pretty much looking for a periscope so more eyes the better and especially with low light we got about 2 hours a [Music] dayl I just think it's high DN likely that we'll actually want to see it check quarters we have a riser Olivia has spotted something a shape in the water above the sea cables quite a large Contact 6 miles roughly on our starb quarter we think the submarine has um come to per dep and Periscope up she's in that direction [Music] he yeah it's a false alarm good spot brid a pot of dolphins isn't what the crew were expecting it wasn't actually a sub room but it's always important to make those calls just but it was it was quite funny it's been 20 minutes since the sonar breakdown and the engineers are about to test their repair your fingers crossed now yeah right all right let's get it [Music] on so we've changed that card out um hopeful that that was the problem is that a normal picture there initial signs are good yeah love that yeah we're definitely getting an active picture that Glory it works than Christ it's really nice to see it working and we're back out in the [Music] fight yeah I like [Music] it to w she's doing about the same course and speed as us so we think she's relatively parallel to us the sonar might be working but in the Ops room there's a new problem contact L by DMF last no bearing 028 decimal one assess outside 6,000 y the Russians are now nowhere to be seen on their screens opposition P intentions is to conduct a bold alteration of course to starboard we'll use have a look around to see why we've lost it we've lost it but we had it there's 14,000 tons of Russian metal in the ocean she not about to teleport herself out of here with no sign of the Russians the captain needs to Rally his crew we know there's a submarine there we know there's a don't disappear just do this contact if Northumberland can't find the Russian submarine there's no way to protect the Arctic cables and the mission could fail [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 473,894

Keywords: Spark, bravery, daily life, daily routines, emergencies, everyday life, fires, floods, honor, naval warfare, navy, operation, pride, readiness, ship life, ship operations, surveillance, training, unprecedented, vessel, warship

Id: aySu0c5UjNI

Length: 45min 28sec (2728 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2024