What Was An Advanced Russian Warship Doing In The Irish Sea? | Warship: Life at Sea | Spark

let's have a photo it'll keep my mom [Music] happy HMS North umberland 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 I was getting continually smashed by waves it was unsafe frankly we probably 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 EO I hold one Russian surface vessel at the baring of 275 North umberland must defend the UK from enemies who are visible she is a strange looking ship and Hidden Side by Side submarine guys we are the closest if we go to war quite simply it's too late and the crew must protect each other however have your feeling doesn't make you any less of a sailor we have on our from The Perils of Life at Sea Cy c c come to me coming up boom I've never been this close to this class of ship for before one of Russia's most dangerous warships threatens one of the UK's most secret military bases fan is the home of the trident nucle turn so if you don't tell them to stop they'll keep on going feel myself getting worse every minute I've lost my sense of smell and the crew face a terrifying new enemy when the going gets tough we have to crack on we can't just stop we can't just run [Music] away HMS Northumberland is 65 mil off the coast of Ireland literally yeah hand knan it's been one of the ship's busiest ever deployments you want the next set down in the galley Captain Tom Hobs is escaping the pressure of command that is got a kick I would gave the reg Josh myself and ni bit of garlic to kick it off he's lending a hand with the most popular menu of the week ships have carries on different nights we have it on a Wednesday night we're doing cor ran Jos dress bares it's one of the meals that we measur the week by so fish and chips on Friday steak on a Saturday roast on a Sunday Kur night is one of the gle's busiest shifts requiring special ingredients and hours of preparation chefs we're here to put out the best food possible cuz if we don't put our good food then everyone gets a bit grumpy how we doing for bares being a chef on a warship is unrelenting C all of it nearly all from scratch 600 meals a day every day I think I'm going to get that no rest for the wicked tattooed next where's your b roll I get your I do I'm I'm enti feing that job of me as well your own job I've got nearly 200 people on board and if I don't understand why people I don't look after them I might as well not even go to seea you have to be able to understand your people before you can do anything else and if you look after your people and they will do great things wel any time Happy Days right cheers I'll see you R oh it's really hot yeah I chose the world's hottest correct come in come in back in his cabin the captain has received new intelligence about MOS Go's latest plan to put pressure on the Royal Navy there's been developments in 6 hours or so there's a Russian Destroyer coming down the IRC towards the UK and we don't know why which is unsurprisingly raised Som my Browns this time a Russian warship has been reported 75 miles off The Western Isles of Scotland its current course runs worryingly close to fazlan the most secure military base in the UK and the home of trident nuclear missiles this looks like an entirely coordinated process by Russia the mission is about protecting the Trident nuclear missiles what they're doing is unprecedented the Cold War never really stopped at Sea we have certainly seen an increase in their activity and they have become more strent more assertive thus what we need to do is to make sure that we work hard to defend our homeland thank you very much cheers team northumberland's now been ordered East to find the Russian warship and block its path before it gets too close to fazlan make sure you got enough layers on to be quite cold up there up on the flight deck a new member of the crew is about to be put through her Paces this is my my first ship um that I've been posted on with the Navy um so this is my first time being wied in a helicopter it's actually my first flight in a helicopter at all Jen Robinson is taking over as the new ship's doctor and is now going to be suspended from a helicopter you wear this around your right hand side and should you get submerge and that'll give you like up to 2 minutes of Brea in there she's training to deal with medical emergencies at Sea whenever and where wherever they happen as a doctor it's important that I'm comfortable doing this so that if the ship receives a distress call from another ship or a fishing vessel and they have someone who's injured on board it means that the crew can take me onto the helicopter and I can be winched down to be able to provide emergency medical care being a doctor on a warship will be a completely new challenge for Jen it's quite to being a GP and that you're kind of you're covering all the specialities so it's like you're dealing with some emergency medicine but obviously there's a lot more occupational hazards here than we generally have a Shore there's lots of opportunities for people to hurt themselves hopefully we won't have any casualties that we have to do this for in real life a bit nerve-wracking it would be nice to watch someone else go up first I think no volunteers still awaiting our passengers go down go yeah happy happy happy to go off down got to f up there's a bit of pitch and roll next all over the place if we have a catastrophic fail bring you back Ste you're in a good position good for now three two one back any two back any two clear the deck go back and left 7:00 good position good position raising the vo if Jen does this again it'll be for real with a sick patient and now she's in the door she's tapping into her seat that's her lap stra on that is UK that is international waters HMS Northumberland is entering the Irish Sea on the lookout for a Russian warship can we see them not yet sir still there nothing visual no nothing visual down in the Ops room the team on the radar are also scouring for the Russians one distance five miles on Good by opposition P report suspect 2378 they've spotted something apsi inv 3 552 I'm associating Admiral kulakov and ties in with intelligence picture it's the vice admiral kulakov one of Russia's most advanced warships it's less than 10 mil away and still heading towards Faz Lane okay let's have somebody closed up on the cameras now we found her the Horizon North umberland must now try to stop the Russians getting any closer to the home of Britain's nuclear deterrent in a really good place to to intercept [Music] it he just there HMS Northumberland is on the taale of a Russian warship that's heading dangerously close to the home of Britain's nule a trident submarines it's quite a good looking ship actually I've never been this close to this class of ship for for so I think they Russians call her an anti-submarine Destroyer Janes warships it's got every single Navy and every single ship there's the kulov a large anti- submarine ship lots of missiles and guns twice the size of me just a few miles off the coast of Scotland it's extremely rare for a Russian warship to get this near to fazan the kulakov is one of moscow's most advanced capable of scanning the area for British nuclear secrets what's she doing now so she's just made an alteration of course okay can we follow her around altering 2000 they will take as much as they can until someone draws a line and forces them to stop so here I am drawing a line saying that you don't get to be near the UK without being followed all positions P will have one down that bearing continue to investigate they're operating in areas where our submarines would normally operate so if they got too close we would have to certainly start with the verbal warnings to tell them essentially keep away she's going to wheel over right there that'll be our NRA the captain needs to find a way to stop the kulakov in it tracks yeah intent now is we're going to close up to about a mile can we close uh at maximum four please he's decided to speed up off Fe will increase 20 knots what increase 20 knots and sail straight for them the message that the Russians are getting back in their Fleet headquarters will be doesn't matter where you go the Old Navy will meet you at Sea and stay there with you so if you don't tell them to stop they'll keep on going do you want have look through that now yeah that would be great actually having completed helicopter training northland's new doctor Jen Robinson is in more familiar territory down in sick Bay it's going pretty well I feel like I'm settling into things now and sort of figuring out what my daily routine looks like one thing I just wanted to check actually with the meds we've gotten here for mips are they duplicated over here this is the first time that I've been on this type of ship so where everything's stored and exactly what equipment we've got kind of like varies from place to place um so it's just kind of getting the grips out while I still got Dave here to ask all the questions lot of canes up there and in the fridge as well if you need it Jen is taking over from the old ships Doctor Dave ult tree although she only qualified a few months ago quite Junior I used to working in an environment where we've got lots of other doctors nurses and Consultants around to be able to ask for help whereas when you're out at Sea I'm the only doctor on this sh make sure nothing goes missing uh but 50/50 if you do ever need anything in there that should be more than enough to keep you going for a few hours okay we are also on call 24 hours so someone could come wake me up at any time for anything so yeah always got to have my clothes laid out ready to throw straight on if that happens you never know when an emergency is going to happen 225 don't close them any closer than one mile HMS Northumberland is almost on top of the Russians C for safety the captain should keep well away from other ships but this close to Faz Lane normal rules don't apply they're now at one mile so I want to stay here as long as possible I want to leave here the last safe moment with North umland uncomfortably close all eyes are on the kulakov 6 sa distance less thanal miles over the captain of the kulakov is making contact Russian warship this series briish warship at fo 23 over 2 38 keep L than miles from my ship just 18 miles from the UK Mainland the Russians are telling Northumberland to back off warship 66 this is British warship fox. 238 that is understood so it's my intention to maintain safe and professional distance from you bew Captain yeah I just had a conversation uh with the vice admiral kov a VHF Channel 16 he asked me to maintain at Le two naal miles I responded and said I will conduct myself in a safe and professional manner Easter 15 15 I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 502 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required for the moment North umberland is retreating take the ship in hand 225 check Quarters off 1 0 0 what correct but she's now in the perfect place to protect Britain's nuclear submarine base we've got the ship in a good position and we're effectively blocking the kulov so they can't get any closer to fazlan but now an opportunity to see what they're really up to the captains agreed to keep his ship well away from the Russians but he made no promises about the Merlin h helicopter action action Mar flight Observer Luke machvi has been flying for nearly 10 years and is an expert in military reconnaissance the Merlin is one of the primary sensors for our mission it's an asset where we can leave the ship and in doing so obtain intelligence this is Luke's first chance to get up close to one of moscow's most dangerous destroyers what's important to understand the capability of the enemy so that God forbid we do go to war then we have all the information we have to be able to fight effectively because quite simply if we don't know anything about the enemy then it's too late right let's get last and close to C please during the imagery collect we contempt to use the transmit on 997 with its state-of-the-art cameras and sensors the Merlin is northland's best chance of uncovering what the kulakov is up to on fane's doorstep take a seat fill in the paperwork down on two deck executive warrant officer Darren Wallington is tackling recent orders from Navy command we have carrying out covid testing of the 100% of the ship's company was we're quite ahead of schedule it got most of the junior8 through this morning but we weren't supposed to be doing the offices till about 3:00 this afternoon Royal Navy warships must now test their Crews for Corona virus on a regular basis go get some pay work then uh the medical team will take over that's still quite a few to come through yet obviously people on watch or were off this morning that we got to get through on the Miss [Music] musters I am the senior non-commissioned officer on board is a very privileged role I'm sort of the the focal point for welfare 34 years in the Navy I'm the one who should be able to know how we can sort All Kinds of Kinds of issues and that's what they rely on me for offices can make sure do your hands Pleasers kins Che bu once today's tests are completed the swabs will be flown back to the British Mainland we'll be landing them on the Hilo over afternoon but probably more likely tomorrow they'll be picked up there and they got be taken I think it's to souls spr to the defense lab to be tested hopefully within 72 hours y youi need that I take everything so far the ship is co free but the lack of space and ventilation on board provide the perfect conditions for the virus to spread that's why what speed do you got the contractor 11s 11 kns fantastic all right this is it fell position 200 m above the kulakov the Merlins crew want to find out everything they can about its Weapons Systems ISS yeah if we open the door now we can start getting L of focus and stuff you're right okay nice definitely a one with the double gun red deck she's looking a bit orange been out for a while 166 was nice zoom in shots on any Aerials Radars does all the good stuff Luke hopes the infrared camera will provide clues about what the kulakov is up to this close to the UK Mainland there we go looking up that's quite a good oh okay let's a quick look at person on the bridge one person on the bridge there is oh there y another individual on the star Bridge wi Luke's picking up some interesting activity on the deck that black spot the I you can see warm objects being thrown over the side oh yeah Vis the Russian crew are putting a number of heat emitting objects into the water please tell me you've got that shot [ __ ] whatever it is out the back is there it's not clear what the Russians are dropping overboard but with the Trident nuclear submarine base just a few miles away they need to get these pictures straight back to the ship let's go [Music] sou HMS northland's Merlin helicopter has uncovered fresh intelligence about Russian activity close to the UK really distinctive that red deck all of that camera imagery has been downloaded and we're just looking through it and putting it [Music] together something in black is an infrared signature it's actually quite warm so these are members of of the COA call ships company there we go it builds there we go and there's one over the side there a large number of mysterious objects have been dropped into the water by the Russian crew this guy here is origin out one on the other side as well watch them hand them between each other yeah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 there probably one up there as well eight there was about 15 that got thrown over Luke suspects they could be devices for listening in on Britain's nuclear subs so needs to alert Navy command we can package that all up and send it off to defense intelligence we'll see we'll see what we get back from it but ultimately we saw some objects being thrown we don't know um what we do know is it was thrown about 18 miles away from UK Mainland prise thanks mate10 30 please much down on two deck the ship's only Shop is open for business thank you this is the nappy canteen we Supply basically whatever the Navy guys want the chocolate crisp drink toilet trees keeps them happy gives them a little perk and then go away and have a little break somewhere the nafy is one of the more popular areas of the ship but is only open for a few hours a day in other Foods very good on board but they still like their snacks in between long hours overnight 90 pennies please thank you very much we carry some general medicines they got headache or they want quick flu remedy or cold Inc bite in the last 24 hours these medicines have suddenly become popular everyone's getting CS at the moment so CS are going up a little bit but hopefully they feel better very soony day just a milk chocolate rein hi guys news about an outbreak of colds and flu on board has just reached EO Darren and he's come to check up down on the MC was it a lot of people are real yeah yeah I think we the worst effective message talk I think you agree with that yeah mine's quite bad I've had a flu jab all right definitely not flu then over are you doing lury wise down here some of are struggling about people I think this man looks like you might be suffering from the ship virus feel myself get worse all right shall we than oh I don't think it's so much a vir just a bit of bit of a cold problem is Tim box miles from anywhere particularly when we're shut up like this there's not a lot of fresh air there's people in the mes decks all the time people's immunity just kind of become a little bit more susceptible which is why a cold can get round the way it's got round how are we all of smell that's probably a good thing down [Music] there Ela 210 at 10 the Russian kulakov path is still being blocked by North umland offat people situation we continue to escort the Admiral kov which is currently 2 on our star be with concerns about its Mission now growing the ministry of Defense has been alerted ACP that is stage two complete whiteall is calling in backup to end the deadlock as someone with defense finally shook the kicked out ofel two times off fast Jets typhoons on the Russia warship within the next 10 minutes the RAF has scrambled two Jets from their base 200 miles away two RAF typhoons to the South and Southwestern aircraft visual red 1 160 tracking left to right you can see there 225 notle mil time height 360 ft that's low but the Russians are sh the RAF jets are circling the kulakov trying to get them to back off and move away from the UK part of defense is showing people what we can do so you're in our backyard and this is what we bring to play not just dealing with a squadron ofar typhoons they're dealing with the UK and this is what the UK can do right now in the turns the show of strength is coming to an end the Jets need to refuel typhoon now 2 and a half miles and are outbound I imagine that was unexpected they came in less than 10 minutes which would be far inside of any kind of warning he would have received from his home as the Jets head home there's news from Navy command got one3 15 North umberland has been told to head north their face off with the kulakov is at an [Music] end another Royal Navy vessel will take northumberland's place as she sets a new course for [Music] [Music] Norway holy [ __ ] the captain has received an update from the ship's doctor good evening Northlands Comming officer we have Co on board our ship what we know people have been ill and lots of people have it in terms of things that we can do social distancing fundamentally doesn't work putting a mask on uh doesn't work you have to take your mask off to sleep and we keep on breathing the same air however there is probably value in US upping our cleaning routines fundamentally we need to look after one another and for the duration of our suring at se we need to keep on doing that there are now probably millions of questions is running around your head about what happens next what does this mean for all of us I will give you the answers as quickly and as honestly as I can that is all that's a bit of a joke it's killing folk and we're just like yeah you've got it I'm not fed my wife yet not until we know more it's going to be quite difficult for everyone I can control how I look after my people I can control what we do inside the ship so I'll control those things some small bugger of a virus I don't get to control that so this is going to be really quite hard work we just need to keep on looking after one another working and sleeping at such Close Quarters it's impossible to socially distance or wear we a mask all the time how many cases does it look like we've got on board at the moment around 25 we had quite a few people presenting with lot of taste and smell not long after taking over as the new doctor Jen has sick crew members queuing up so are we mastering the ones that are in the front compartment and the ones that are in people presenting with symptoms requesting um paracetamol and um other painkillers um but I think that there's quite a few people who haven't presented to Sick Bay who've got symptoms so I think the actual number in reality is probably significantly higher than that so at the moment we're trying to get an idea of what the big picture is um try and get around the whole ships company and find out how many people have had symptoms have ongoing symptoms we're at Cleveland and establishing 2 m boundaries outside the M it's not ground plan to keep the people safe with just one shared Air Supply throughout the whole ship there's little more the crew can do to protect themselves everyone's just going to mock in as much as possible to clean as much as possible no matter how much you caim we're still all breathing in the same air I'm still having two people sleep on top of me in the same mess with 26 girls so there's there's only so much you can do really [Music] Northumberland is now 175 M off the coast of Norway we just need to figure out the worst case scenario in sick Bay Dr Jen has barely slept been up since by a poly patient most people who've had symptoms have felt pretty rotten but haven't had any kind of like alarming features whereas the patient is a lot more unwell the condition of a young member of the engineering team is showing no signs of improvement I think he's been pretty unwell for the last hour and a half 2 hours uh and we're particularly concerned about his ability to breathe at the moment my biggest concern is work out how best medevacing back to the mainland with no ventilators on board the crew need a plan in case he deteriorates but northumberland's Merlin helicopter has been grounded the reason I'm not using my helicopter is my flight crew have been exposed to covid and thus there's an unknown impact upon their ability to fly Northland must find a new way to get the sick engineer ashore fast we just need to all draw [Music] breath a patient seriously ill with covid needs to be taken to hospital but northland's helicopter has been grounded people woke up to call hands as usual immediately followed by the Ops officer telling them that we had to casion to evacuate someone and they don't need to know who it is although I imagine that name will get around the ship I have no doubt that this will confirm in some people's minds the worst fear that their worst fear is perhaps realistic and it has become realistic and thus are a bit concerned his ill people scared yeah it's vital they find a way to get the sick man off the ship so we're coming up with a contingency plan now Navigator Ryan Woodridge needs to solve the problem we had um an initial plan to uh go into Norway but it's looking like Norway and civilian Port is unlikely to accept Us in if we've got confirmed covid case through the risk of transmission asore and there's no way to to change that so that's real worry the next best option is to turn the ship around and head back towards the UK to me [Music] roomate hi sir hello sorry about your weight what time's this love me thank you very much all right thank you much down on three deck executive warrant officer Darren should be helping to manage the Health crisis St free in the small Brother house see that but as the oldest member of the crew he's been ordered to shield in his cabin which is about the the size of a garden shed yeah the room service is nice yeah but especially with what's going on my job I should be to one out walking around you know checking everybody else is all right uh make helping make the important decisions but at the moment I'm just stuck down here I'm literally I'm sleeping eating living living down here 247 can't get out can't anyway absolutely gutted that's my last uh deployment last hrah exactly where fans playing and Spees I was expecting on on the last one this is the worst that comes out of Co for me my family do you know what I'll take that there's people had a lot worse and uh probably still [Music] [Music] will so require good report at this appreci point are they want any more people coming on to the bridge HMS Northumberland has raced 150 Mi South and is now in range of the British Mainland we have requested for a search and rescue helicopter to come from Shore to us rescue 163 will be with us at 8 805 stand by safely Captain got fish on the aircraft I'm about to land an unknown helicopter with two unknown crew on the back of my ship which is a fairly risky operation at the best of times the civilian pilot has never landed on the moving deck of a warship before visual on the fight deck cameras but the covid patient emergency leaves no other option so what they might do is come in and then just wait for the ship uh to judge that movement of pitch and roll what's our pitch and roll please pitch can you pass that no pitch one [Music] roll evacuating on in in this sense with a Coast Guard helicopter landing on the deck it's extraordinarily rare I would be surprised if I ever do it again last time in command so if they are holding there for a little longer than normal aircraft over the flight deck aircraft [Music] descending aircraft landed on [Music] Deck Personnel returning back to the aircraft the casualty is able to walk to the helicopter FD Captain stand by for them to launch he'll be in a British A&E within the hour well done to rescue 163 warship Norland many thanks for your urgency and uh speed today at safe flight R chopping 16 out our casual te has been taken by hm Coast Guards and he'll be landed into a hospital so he's going to get the best possible care that he needs Shor side so we have done everything we needed to do and could do and then we got him off with over half the crew now sick the captain has also started showing covid symptoms the heads of Department are meeting to discuss if North umland can remain at Sea we're not going to stop this going through the ship it it is absolutely through the ship um but what we've identified there are certain people who we need to keep reasonably safe from illness not least because only the cap and Ops can put this ship along side because we need engines we need officers watch on the bridge we need other watch Keepers so we're trying to minimize move and minimize that transmission slow it down all right we have number of people who are are critical to safety on board um so that's from the captain down to people like the the Marine engineering officer those who go and watch and and make sure um that the ship is safe at all all times the reality is there's not a lot we can do um but if we can bed people down and make sure that that movement is minimized and so protect as many people as possible norlands this is the offat with the current Co on board ship's company is reminded to avoid traversing around the ship especially if you are symptomatic where possible remain within your MX or cins stay safe that is [Music] all in spite of their best efforts to keep north umberland at sea Navy command is stepping in my operational command has made the decision that actually the the best thing we could do for everyone was to return home to allow those people who were feeling horrible and I was one of them just to allow people to um relax and let their bodies fight through a pretty groty infection we have finished our OB tasking as such we have been released to return back home and to deal with the illness that's going around our ship what going back home looks like what quarantine looks like needs to be played out our tasking is finished but there's lots of questions yet to be answered that is it the captain has been told to set a course for home northland's deployment cut short by over over a month is all but over I have never done three months like this in my na career and to action stations hands to action stations I have had so many challenges come in such quick succession fire TI fire absolutely horrible up there that is massive that is huge it's the shortest deployment I've had but I've had to really work hard for this one okay the submarine crashed into for our R these three Unforgettable months have tested every member of northumberland's crew it takes more than one person to fight a fire it takes more than one person to do with a steering a breakdown and it takes more than one person to find a submarine I have detected props sub 7221 we've got it everyone wants to be in that operational moment you want to be you know where it's really crunchy and really exciting it's all a learning process in the Navy oh [ __ ] I think I've grown into a salty SE dog now my time on board has absolutely confirmed I want to be at C amazing absolutely stunning I quite look forward to not being stuck on 133 M of a tin can I want to go home you know I miss my wife and kids but I will soon get itchy feet about when to go back to see [Music] again [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 198,767

Keywords: Behind the scenes, Maritime defense, Military conflict, Military history, Military leadership, Military protocol, Military tension, Naval authority, Naval base, Naval dominance, Naval duty, Naval encounters, Naval force, Naval officer, Naval standoff, Naval strategy, Navy action, Navy dockyard, Russian ships, Spark, Tension with Russian ships

Id: _FtlVjEY4ko

Length: 45min 36sec (2736 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2024