Front line in the new Cold War revealed… Scotland
Number of Nato submarines spotted on the Clyde doubles
NAVAL experts say Scotland is on the ‘front line’ of a new Cold War as US patrols increase to ward off the menace of Russian submarines.
Double the number of Nato submarines have been seen on the surface of the Clyde in recent months, travelling to and from the UK’s key base at Faslane.
There have been 85 sightings this year compared with 43 for last year, including US Virginia-class fast attack submarines which have a key intelligence-gathering role.
The increased activity comes after undersea communications cables carrying the world’s internet traffic were cut in October off Shetland, the Faroes and the south of France, just a fortnight after two Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea were sabotaged.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of the UK’s armed forces, warned last year that Russian submarine activity threatens crucial underwater communications cables.
Visiting the BAE Systems shipyard in Govan, Glasgow, on Friday, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also spoke of a Russian threat
‘Threat to our critical national infrastructure’
to ‘critical national infrastructure, gas pipelines and internet cables’.
He added: ‘The one thing Vladimir Putin will have left after his illegal invasion of Ukraine is a navy and an air force. We need ships to hunt these subs or deter them.’
Former Royal Navy Commander Tom Sharpe, who was captain of HMS St Albans, a Type 23 antisubmarine frigate, said increased visibility of US subs – 23 sightings this year, but just 13 last year – was sending a clear message.
Clyde sightings of the Royal Navy’s Trident-carrying Vanguard, as well as Astute attack submarines, have also shot up – 48 already this year, in contrast to 21 in 2021.
Submarines and frigates from the French, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish and Polish navies have also been visitors over the last few months.
Commander Sharpe said: ‘Russian subs have been operating around North Atlantic UK/US undersea infrastructure for decades. The Nord Stream attack and incidents with communications cables means this threat has increased. When ships and aircraft increase their patrol cycles to hunt submarines, various online groups spot and report on it.
‘This is not the case with subs – unless you want to show the world that you are using them. There will be operational and logistical reasons too, but the messaging by-product is invaluable.’
The UK has around 60 undersea cables, with £8.5 trillion a day of international bank transactions flowing through them, as well as phone calls and the internet. The Ministry of Defence said the cable cut off Shetland on October 20 was caused by a civilian trawler.
But similar blackouts on the same day at the French port of Marseille and a week earlier off the Faroes saw countries step up the use of undersea robots, drones and submarines to guard against attacks. Last week, Swedish security services said traces of explosives near the Nord Stream pipelines was evidence of ‘gross sabotage’.
Earlier this month Russian spy ship Admiral Vladimirskiy was spotted outside UK waters off Montrose, Angus, where research vessel HMS Enterprise was conducting tests on a new missile launcher.
In November 2020 it was revealed that an elite unit at Faslane was hunting for Russian spyware placed in the Clyde estuary to track subs while a month previously an unmanned ‘spy boat’ powered by solar was found off the west coast.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde is routinely used by allies and partners.’