Navy keeping tabs on Russians in Channel

Royal Navy patrol ships have been keeping watch on seven Russian warships as they pass through the English Channel.

Portsmouth-based ships HMS Tyne, Severn and Mersey have been monitoring the Russian Federation navy vessels as they sailed closed to the UK.

They also surfaced tracked a Algerian submarine as it travelled back to its north African home.

HMS Mersey met up with a trio of vessels off France and stayed with them through the Channel and Dover Strait and into the North Sea.

A Navy spokesman said: “HMS Mersey’s ship’s company worked around the clock to ensure the three ships passed the area safely.”