Most Sophisticated Naval Radar Ever Created Deployed In Crimea | Warship: Life At Sea | Spark

paper was light gold in medieval times [Music] oh no tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] [Music] this is the story of the most advanced warship of its kind in the world at the most dramatic time in its short history make sure that we are ready for anything hms duncan is a royal navy type 45 destroyer worth over a billion pounds wrestling with technology this ship can track a cricket ball sized contact than three times the speed of sound at about 100 150 miles that's backed up by weaponry so my sea viper missile system is the best air defense system in the world but this state-of-the-art ship is also home to 280 men and women do you understand the charges against you today yes sir earning cats mate that's what i'm doing herding cats our cameras have been given unprecedented access to duncan's dramatic seven month mission as they come face to face with russian forces there is a challenge from russia at the moment that's aircraft passing the stern and the crew find themselves on the front line as missiles rain down on syria it's pretty scary to think that we are literally at the center of everything that's happening we're just waiting now to see what happens and see if anybody fires us previously i just want to get going now get a good job done [Music] hms duncan's seven month mission began you never quite know what's going to happen when we get into the black sea ewo martin watson struggled to squeeze everyone in so this is typical of at the moment as where we are on board our ship we're absolutely maxed out good evening duncan and the commodore revealed his plans for the mission let's not be under any doubt that we do not have normal relations with russia [Music] the royal navy's hms duncan is in the black sea over three thousand miles from home the chips no force to steer twenty-three-year-old ryan greg is the ship's navigator known to everyone as navs echo103 he's one of the youngest officers on the ship and has a special cabin next to the bridge i kind of have my own little apartment block up in the bridge flat here so the cabin is right there about three pieces from the bridge not particularly tidy because i it's just full of nav stuff and planning so things are kind of spread everywhere i have a lot of these sort of storages i've got books they've got um information that you should you need to keep it running i've got i've got my own line to the officer watch and then i've got um the off swatches lined to the captain it's quite loud because i don't wake up if it's quiet pantry and then all my stuff there and then it's three paces then onto the bridge if you get cool to the bridge for some of the routine or for an emergency it's nice just be able to be on there within five seconds at my age some people don't have their driving licenses i'm only 23 here doing something that's actually quite cool for my age ever since i'm sort of nine years old i've never really wanted to do anything else work this navs navs has just been given a new course to sail and is going to take duncan into some of the world's most sensitive waters a corner of the black sea off the coast of crimea we are currently nestled in the northern side of the black sea a minute so we've got ukraine and odessa up here to the north and then um currently russian cold crimea out to the east so we're gonna head east and get about 30 miles south of crimea the sea around this area is extremely tense russian forces controversially moved into crimea in 2014 and defend their new territory fiercely duncan will be getting closer than any other british ship has been since [Music] we've got guidance from nato headquarters and there's a line they've put in the sand um through the northern side of the black sea will stay well clear of russian airspace while clearing their waters but it will be curious for us to see sort of where the trip lines are and where they'll react to us helping navs keep a lookout for the russians is the world's most sophisticated naval radar fundamentally this ship was designed around that radar so a multi-function radar that's the reason the ship's so big and partly the reason the ship's so expensive and then our long-range radar at the back which is kind of like a solar panel so between the two of them we can see an airspace out to about 250 miles plus we can look up to space and we can track in excess of a thousand objects down at the size of a tennis world traveling at two three four times the speed of sound meanwhile in duncan's ops room the team have been monitoring a mysterious russian ship but it suddenly vanished from their now been screens command touches for sub-search ups to the north duncan's helicopter is being launched to try and find the russian ship [Music] and get a closer look at what it's up to but a flight this close to crimea must be signed off by the captain time check mark the timing helena stack and 15 seconds captain marm today's time is 1500 1700 the sortie as they surface searched aircraft details we have a wildcat mark two there'll be two hours endurance in terms of intel and profiles our profile will be an over posture climbing to three thousand feet today there's lots of concurrent activity going on there's obviously a ration there to think about what i expect from the from both of you is to be working really hard on the proximity of the russian to make sure that at no point i'm restricted to my ability to conduct aviation operations all my sensors will be focused on the north so i will be able to give you flight commander as good a warning as i can do should anything be coming out in our direction therefore flying is approved from a ship's perspective carry on please okay mike do you feel it the weight the right responsibility on your shoulders everything's on my shoulders of course i feel that way to responsibility we don't do flying for exercise it's always for real 31 year old johnny hamlin and 28 year old tim dunning will be flying the helicopter [Music] johnny and tim make their final checks before takeoff for tango highlander we are airborne support for pov endurance is two hours one attention search to the north the hunt is on the helicopter heads towards the russian ship's last known position [Music] i'm now north east of class by approximately but they have no idea if they'll find the russian ship and if they do what will be waiting for them [Music] hms duncan's helicopter crew johnny hamlin and tim dunning are hunting for a suspicious russian ship in the black sea to bring back video footage of whatever it's doing the camera itself has two modes which you can see quite clearly here top right is the thermal imaging so that's looking for heat signatures on vessels this main one is the electrical optical so your sort of tv equivalent of a camera on a good day ranges comfortably 20 miles plus it makes sense that he's out this way because he could have got through everyone going the other way but the russian ship is proving hard to find the helicopter needs to move closer to crimea but the nearer it gets the bigger the risk it i'll never make it easy today secure to be confirmed end of working day rounds yeah i'll cover the fireworks dmi to be confirmed back on duncan james smith is tracking the helicopter and his work is piling up it's going to be 12 o'clock isn't it when zulu i'm a principal warfare officer so my job is to typically call it fight the ship to use all the ships weapons and sensors to both protect the ship's company and to achieve the missions do you actually ever get to a point where you finished your job no never i could work every hour of the day and i would still have work to do i joined the navy in january 2006 and i joined because i wanted to do something that made the difference my wife and i are both serving naval officers we it can be quite difficult it can be quite a a wrench sort of to go away for that period of time but it's my job james's priority is the helicopters hunt for the mystery russian ship welcome to the command brief stadium thursday the eighth of february starting with the primo with a tactical update as it gets closer to crimea captain elena stack wants everyone to know what's at stake [Music] right i would encourage all of you to have a chat with the teams what we're doing here in the black sea is resonating across whitehall at the moment and that's something i want fed down to the ship's company you see where we are you see where we're operating see what's on the screen up there that is what we're about minute by minute carry on james is on the lookout for any russian reaction to the helicopter they may consider it uh to be an escalatory we certainly don't but it depends on how you spin the narrative and and one thing the russians are very good at spinning a narrative we have to demonstrate our own and create our own as well so they can scream and shout all they want but we still have the right as to all these units to have the right to be where we are and operating how we are here it's the east of where we are now johnny hamlin and tim dunning have just spotted a ship that's heading for crimea that guy's direction would tie in he's just coming up the surface track and he's heading his direction is heading towards festival they think it's the mystery russian vessel they've been looking for but they need to get closer to make sure [Music] the russian ship comes into view tim uses the camera to record everything and gather vital intelligence roger that's all copied it's been more challenging than some but for me personally it's just rewarding that we actually found it because then that's my job chief [Applause] we gotta get the flight delivers james smith is the first to take a close look at the footage one cert moment class russian asia is there anything on the back of it like the last one that's the best image i could get did it do anything when you um so that is a russian intelligence gathering vessel and what they do they obviously look to suck as much information from us in terms of our communications our electronic signature our acoustic signature as much information as they've got just a way of understanding our battle rhythm our way of fighting our way of controlling aircraft so they have a an understanding of how we might do it for real we know where they are we know where they're going and we will keep tracking them using our satellites and other information until they're until they're no longer a of concern to us the presence of the spy ship proves duncan has the attention of russia in this part of the black sea nato commodore mike utley is in charge of the move towards crimea there is a lot going on at the moment he's concerned by just how many russian vessels are in the area as duncan makes her approach on the russian side we've got uh the two gregorovich in there we've got the cash in the creevac two kilos it's pretty obvious that there is an awful lot going on and this is going to continue to grow over the coming days the key from our perspective is to maintain awareness at all times so i want you to pull on everything i want duncan to pull on every back door you have available in order to get information the the most important part now is fusing all the information together that we've got and we will need to be on our taste throughout relations with russia are not normal at the moment uh uk government sees russia and has categorized russia as a challenge rather than the partner so what i'm interested in what hms duncan is here for is ensuring uk interests are looked after be that with russia or any other challenger that that's around the place good afternoon hms duncan this is the fish are you tired are you sat in your bunk wondering what to do church church church [Music] i wanted to drop the mic but i thought people will think what is he doing paul bryce is the ship's chaplain you've got the presentation laptop mate known to everyone as bish he's running late so we're looking for the laptop so we can present the words rather than having loads of uh bits of paper and so then being in with a ha his job is to look after the emotional welfare of the 280 men and women on board that's all let's see if we can not only steal the laptop let's steal the projector now as well and see who catches me for doing that [Music] if i'm not like this one i have literally just held on itself this is not like being a civilian in a normal nine to five job i haven't lived at home for more than a month in probably two and a half years being in the navy's not being on a cruise liner it bears a big personal cost to your own family and your own situation this is a job in which you may well have to kill someone in which people will probably be trying to kill you do you understand the weight of that choice so welcome everyone to our first service of this deployment here at church on hms duncan what i want is stop thinking about all the things that we've got to do later on just be still and just reflect i think what i'm here to do is to help them think ethically about what is it that we're doing for some people they will be happy to go to war without a second thought for other people they will be really wanting to understand why are we doing it what do we hope to achieve if you really couldn't cope with it you're probably in the wrong line of work [Music] duncan has arrived at her destination no royal navy ship has been this close to crimea since russia occupied it in 2014. [Music] um at the rush we need to get our pork boat in the water and get them over to victoria but she isn't alone hms duncan's two speed boats are being launched to transfer some sailors to a nearby nato ship points [Music] [Music] seven [Music] with the speedboat still in the water a plane suddenly appears on duncan's radar it might be russian our long-range radars are picking up air contact the air team are trying to work out what type of aircraft that contact is and whether or not that that contact pose any threat each shout means another plane has been detected [Music] assumption is that they are russians they're coming from the russian airspace and from a russian point of origin russian fighter jets are taking off from crimea [Music] and they're heading straight for duncan [Music] [Music] hms duncan is just 30 miles off the coast of crimea and russian jets are swarming all over the ship [Music] two or three more aircraft but the crew need to find out why are they here to attack or intimidate a mix of different types of fighters and fighter bombs looks like it's the russians the commodore suspects the jets are here because the russians don't want duncan to move any closer to crimea i think their tactics are naive okay what they don't know is how capable of shipping strength to flankers it's gone overhead right now still got about 10 aircraft airborne west of crimea so still scope some more to come in how much do you talk to at least 90 degrees as the russian air force bears down on duncan the speed boats are still out in open water buffer stephen highland is becoming increasingly worried now you've got to safeguard the ship we also need to safeguard the bullets in the boats question of how much fuel isn't the issue it's the question of their sustainability being the seaboats in this these conditions bearing in mind we've got aircraft 170 traffic right flying overhead [Music] more and more russian planes are arriving and they're getting ever closer to the ship sixteen flankers this is nato warship 203-7 flight controller matt rayside issues a warning to the russian pilots the jets are coming too close to duncan's radar which is so powerful it could harm their electronics and cause them to crash you are closing my position we are operating high-powered radars and the quest to remain outside your safety response so what we're doing at the moment is tracking them reading the appropriate uh approach warnings with regards to our high power radar and making sure that they understand that we're able to track the whole thing both sea boats remain on the support water this one's burning a lot of fuel the speed boats need help they're being battered by the rough seas the sea boats got an endurance of 86 nautical miles but the crew haven't they've been out there for the past three hours in the cold that's the issue you know there is only so long before directly over here start getting worried about their welfare recovering the speed boats limits duncan's maneuverability and makes her more vulnerable to the jets but they have no choice the crew in the boats are at risk of hypothermia we need to choose the right moment to record this is [Music] with 50 recovering and the poor sea boats aka speed [Music] [Applause] let's see about raising [Music] everything seems to be uh good at the moment but it's quite hard to coordinate because at the same time we've got the russian aircraft on top of us the speed boats are back on board duncan steps up its warnings to the russian pilots we're operating high [Music] last visual on second aircraft last seen green 165. [Music] last visual last night green one by zero lost visual on the second aircraft as suddenly as they arrived the fighter planes turn around and head back towards crimea now turning outbound sir everyone outbound but the ops room can't relax just one of the russian pilots has sent duncan a farewell message they're gonna come back i think i imagine the good luck was uh post their display of air power um saying uh good luck in the future or good luck defeating us with this mini aircraft airborne actually they had they had 17 aircraft we've got 48 missiles i think we're going to win that one very useful very useful to see okay two listening one here up coming over just to address you all right duncan an amazing job there you are probably the only maritime asset that has seen a rate of that magnitude in the last 25 years the way you dealt with it was exceptional very very well done be ready for them to come back last and best thanks very much [Music] in the end we had 16 or 17 russian aircraft lifting which is nothing we've ever seen before and as far as where nothing that a british ship or a nato ship has ever seen they did a couple of low flybys and the closest one we had was about 200 yards off the beat we'll spend months looking at pictures and videos of these jets and then to have them flying you know 200 feet down the side of the bridge wing if we were in a wartime scenario you know absolutely it would be terrifying 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 at the moment to me it felt unpresident and the commodore did say he thought it was unprecedented in terms of the scale what i can tell you is that the there were more uh aircraft than we have seen in a long time [Music] [Music] although the jets are gone duncan is still close to crimea and the crew remain at high alert we do it basically so we can get everyone fed within 75 minutes with the threat level raised 26 year old chef liam fletcher and his team give each sailor just seven minutes to eat as if reaction everyone needs to be constantly ready and prepared for anything that might happen so we need to feed everyone as fast as we can and everyone including the chefs can get back to their action stations and be prepared got beef stroganoff today uh with rice and we've it's got to be substantial because we don't know how long we've worked until our next meal is going to be so some of this is going to get them to tie them through going through as fast as we can and no time wasting we need to get people through 38 [Music] martin watson is the ewo the executive warrant officer how's your cue going he's making sure no one hangs around let's check come on let's get eating please clubs let's move it [Music] i think we've got everybody through in time we came in there and they've got back to their their workplace back to their action station so yeah i think we've been quite quite successful with everyone fed there's another challenge around the corner looking a bit nervous over here looking a bit nervous no it's cool performance anxiety in it no not nervous ewo has a surprise for the crew coming in over there an unannounced drugs test we've got the compulsive drug testing team on board there's only myself the captain and our commodore who's on board who know about this we're going to use a sick beer as our female head so that's a little bit enclosed off everyone on board must produce a urine sample failure is not an option if you prove positive you'll probably be removed from the ship and then [Music] look to be discharged to shore so it's no longer required we have to sit here for the best part of the day getting tiny little droplets of pee on our hands why did you volunteer i didn't volunteer i was voluntold nobody volunteers for this this is what i joined the navy for to be watching people having away action next even the bish must take the test [Music] someone got staged right so it's the best way it looks like yeah put it up on see if it helps a few times [Laughter] [Music] just relax take deep breaths slow and steady if you take a piss sample not taking the yeah [Laughter] unfortunately i'm visiting somebody this morning and couldn't wait that long to go to the toilet so i've been unable to produce adequate samples i knew that i should have waited but i would probably would have wet myself which isn't good best club stamp ever 37 degrees eventually the ship's company all passed the test including the bish after drinking a lot of extra water so what did you do to make it happen i laid back and dreamed of english that's five minutes uh till we do the sale pass any spare manpower now still left in the ups room at 201 echo pot many thanks [Music] captain elena stack and nato commodore mike utley will soon lead them out of the black sea it's been a roller coaster six weeks sir and my ship's coming now will do everything to ensure the smoothest possible transition it's been really excellent i asked you to rate a game and meet the challenge that was ahead of us and you really have done that you should be proud of what you've done so thank you very much indeed a genuine and personal thank you from me we're doing a cell pass this will be our final act in the black sea with the other task group units as it's sort of a final farewell chance for the commodore to salute all the units that have been with us it's what nato's all about so there's the business end of this and then there's the actual relationships that you build over a period of time we're all sailors at the end of the day we all work at sea and that's what binds you together and makes the difference between a task group working and a task group working together getting that as duncan moves on to the next stage of her mission some of her nato allies are saying a ceremonial goodbye that is originally ferdinand which used to be hms coventry engineering very smart amazing foe just cuts through [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so this is this is quite a standard edition is when you finish the tasking that we do a bit of a cell patch just like that just a friendly wave off it's obviously some of us that you know have got to know that the ships companies are those ships quite well um through our various different jobs and roles so yeah it's just a yeah a ceremony or send off duncan's time in the black sea is at an end but she's about to face a whole new set of challenges in the mediterranean [Music] hms duncan has just left the black sea and is heading back to the mediterranean shoots up post bone 084 she's sailing past the scene of a famous battle from the first world war a place with particular significance for rory the 27 year old officer of the watch so the bottom half you can see here passes what we know as gallipoli which obviously decide the 19th the battle in 1915 in the invasion which is unique for me because that's where my great-grandfather served in combat and he served as a messenger during the evacuation of gallipoli he was actually injured on the battlefield and left behind and was found a few days later by turkish villagers and they took him up into the hills which we can now see and cared for until after the war so i believe he was in a coma he couldn't actually walk and he eventually um regained his health and in 1919 or 1920 he walked all the way back across europe into my great-grandma's house apparently sat down on the sofa while she stood there astonished and said love what's for dinner was his opening line having not seen her for five years and you know her believing he was dead so um that's a good little family a story that we've got over here and also it's quite unique for me to see the battlefield which he you know fought and was wounded on [Music] duncan's next stop is the italian island of sicily pilots starting our slow turn support now navs is facing a driving test like no other are we doing the pilot ditches normal so driving air into the harbour and then whereas the captain would normally drive alongside and i'll be doing that today is sort of a first go driving a warship into a harbor charlie 341. he's in charge of parking a 1 billion pound warship for the very first time just remember your 150 meter shadow distances generally when you're coming to harbor the the closest bit of the land is actually a bit below you and we're quite a deep drafted ship and compared to pretty much all of the other ones coming in here it'll be the third one back from the forward cluster and what did start count down to the jesse [Music] part of you always feels a little bit nervous all right how are you going to get us in then so here as soon as that's on we can come ahead on the starboard shaft here we go 3-0 initially for that stop is that holding the the bow steady bring it very slow to starboard which i think is probably better at this stage it's better at this stage and if you wanted to stop the ship how are you going to do it bring the porch shaft to stern and actually that'll pivot the stern towards the date stern is steady that looks a really nice shape up now [Music] right double up and secure safely alongside tick vg well done end of a good week it's been good it was good time to have a go i've seen quite a lot on here but it's nice to transfer sort of looking and the theory into practical and you didn't damage the one pound warship and i still have a job so i certainly one of the younger certainly destroyer navigators that are in the navy it's a very rewarding job the fact the ship is safe and she gets from a port of port is the immediate sort of result of your work i think any budding warfare officer joins in the navy wanting to command a ship like this i think most of us would be lying if we say he didn't so my sort of medium to long-term aim is absolutely to be in command of one of these and then see where the navy takes me further and from there right beside duncan is moored in the port of catania in sicily the site of another major battle this time in world war ii [Music] rory whose great-grandfather was injured at gallipoli has organised a trip to commemorate fallen comrades 1943 the allied armies americans canadians and the british invaded the south of sicily about 35 miles south of here but the battle for catania was one of the bloodiest there was 11 000 british casualties over the course of the whole campaign and 2130 of them lie here today and 112 of those remain unidentified it's just one of the you know i think the things that we should do when we travel around the world obviously um people have sacrificed their lives in defense of our nation and freedom and it's obviously you know remind yourself that this is the job that we've signed up to do and you know god forbid but one day you know sailors that i know or myself you know could lie in these graves and i'd hope that someone would do the same for me in years to come he died for you and me sadly missed mum and queenie you see actually that they're personal stories behind each of these people duncan's chaplain the bish paul bryce will conduct a service of remembrance [Music] this is just a tiny fraction of those who gave their lives it can just bring home sometimes the scale of it as well [Music] i think it just reminds people of actually what the purpose of being in the military is and the world in which we live seems to have suddenly started to ramp up into a more dangerous world again so having to sacrifice your life it's what people have paid and this may well be the cost that we're asked to pay as well [Music] we're going to take some moments to reflect together to remember before god the sacrifice they have made and the sacrifices that we may too be called to make in the furtherance of our service for they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old age shall not weary them nor the ears condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them we will remember them this is the last chance duncan's crew have to reflect on the past because they're about to be thrust into one of the most dangerous missions of their lives [Music] next time up to 75 people were killed in a despicable and barbaric attack a chemical weapons attack in syria gives duncan a new mission this massacre was a significant escalation there's drama as the ship races to resupply so how long until we start refueling take the ship in hand steer one seven zero young officer in training will de la mayr's career hangs in the balance if i wasn't to pass this in theory i could get thrown out of the navy and duncan prepares for war this is as serious as it gets [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 206,701

Keywords: Advanced warships, Black Sea, Defense spending, Long-range radar, Military operations, Military technology, Modern naval technology, Naval defense equipment, Naval defense systems, Naval operations, Naval superiority, Naval surveillance, Naval surveillance systems, Naval technology advancements, Radar technology in warships, Ship cost, Short-range radar, Spark, Tracking system, UK Navy, Warship technology

Id: 7YkY4yi8EeE

Length: 44min 53sec (2693 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 18 2021