HMS Liverpool shadows Russian carrier

Roy­al Navy destroy­er HMS Liv­er­pool has sailed along­side the Russ­ian air­craft car­ri­er Admi­ral Kuznetsov as she made her way north around British waters.

HMS Liv­er­pool escort­ing Russ­ian air­craft car­ri­er Admi­ral Kuznetsov [Pic­ture: LA(Phot) Ian Simp­son, Crown Copyright/MOD 2012] Source: Min­istry of Defence, UK Click to enlarge

HMS Liv­er­pool escort­ing Russ­ian air­craft car­ri­er Admi­ral Kuznetsov [Pic­ture: LA(Phot) Ian Simp­son, Crown Copyright/MOD 2012] Source: Min­istry of Defence, UK Click to enlarge

The Portsmouth-based Type 42 war­ship was act­ing as fleet escort as she fol­lowed a car­ri­er-led Russ­ian task group from the Eng­lish Chan­nel off the south west coast of Eng­land to the seas off South West Ireland. 

Liverpool’s Com­mand­ing Offi­cer, Com­man­der Col­in Williams, said: 

“As an island nation it is essen­tial for the UK to main­tain a mil­i­tary pres­ence in our waters. 

“HMS Liv­er­pool is well-placed to car­ry out this duty after her extreme­ly suc­cess­ful Oper­a­tion ELLAMY and NATO con­tri­bu­tions off Libya last year.” 

In Decem­ber, the Portsmouth-based destroy­er HMS York was sent to shad­ow the Kuznetsov group as it sailed south from Rus­sia — the clos­est that a Russ­ian naval task group had been to the Unit­ed King­dom in 20 years. 

After a han­dover from the French war­ship Le Henaff, Liv­er­pool estab­lished her posi­tion between the UK and the Russ­ian task group, shad­ow­ing them as they pro­gressed north past Land’s End, then onto Ireland. 

The task group of two war­ships and five sup­port ships are mak­ing their way home to the north­ern and Baltic fleets of the Russ­ian Navy. 

Liv­er­pool is due to decom­mis­sion at the end of March but has already gone through a main­te­nance peri­od in Portsmouth and a farewell vis­it to Lon­don, where thou­sands of mem­bers of the pub­lic stepped aboard. On leav­ing Lon­don she was acti­vat­ed as the fleet ready escort. 

When her escort duty fin­ish­es HMS Liv­er­pool will con­duct train­ing exer­cis­es in the UK and Nor­way, before a final vis­it to her home town of Liv­er­pool. She decom­mis­sions on 30 March 2012 in Portsmouth. 

Press release
Min­istry of Defence, UK 

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