THE REAL COLD WAR
Britain’s attack sub pops up in Putin’s frozen backyard
BURSTING through 2ft of Arctic ice, this is the menacing shape of the Royal Navy’s nuclear powered submarine HMS Trenchant.
The boat – a hunter- killer designed to track and sink enemy subs and ships with its missiles and torpedoes – surfaced in the Arctic Ocean in an area that Russia regards as its own backyard.
The show of strength alongside two US subs, the USS Connecticut and USS Hartford, marks the revival of drills that date back to the Cold War and test the crews’ and boats’ ability to fight beneath the ice cap.
The West and Russia are contending for dominance in the region as the ice shrinks and opens up new shipping lanes and opportunities for oil exploration.
Commander David Burrell, captain of the Trenchant, said: ‘This is a tremendous opportunity to really test our skills.
‘Working alongside the US submarines is great for us. It is like dogfighting in an ice jungle.’
Last night a Royal Navy source said: ‘Russia consider this to be their backyard.’
The exercise allows the Navy to test the subs’ array of hardware, notably sonar, against live ‘targets’ and to practice tracking and simulating attacks against other submarines.
It is being co-ordinated by the US Navy’s Arctic Submarine Laboratory. It is believed to be the first time a British submarine has taken part for a decade, though the Americans conduct such exercises every two years. Rear Admiral James Pitts, commander of the Undersea Warfighting Development Centre, said: ‘We are well aware that we are in a great power competition environment and the Arctic is one piece of that.
‘All the more reason why we are practising up here to make sure that we can operate effectively.’ As part of the five-week exercise, military scientists are running tests from an ice camp operating at -40C (-40F) on an ice floe north of Alaska. Up to 50 personnel from Britain, Canada and the US are working in temporary shelters there.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: ‘Exercises such as this are vital in maintaining the operational readiness of the submarine fleet and in maintaining the security of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.’
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: ‘This is one of the harshest environments on earth.
The ability of our submarines to operate with our US allies here demonstrates how the Navy is always ready to defend our nation anywhere in the world.’
‘Operational readiness’