HMS Queen Elizabeth is not only the United Kingdom’s latest aircraft carrier, but also the most expensive flagship in the British Royal Navy. Costing roughly £3 billion (US$4 billion) to build, the aircraft carrier made headlines in 2017 after a faulty shaft seal forced it to be sent back for repair at Portsmouth. Ordered in 2008, it was commissioned close to 10 years later in 2017.

Along with her sister Prince of Wales, the U.K. spent nearly £8 billion for two 930-feet-long aircraft carriers. Like Queen Elizabeth, the Prince of Wales also suffered multiple flooding incidents. On top of that, the Royal Navy spent £39 million repairing and maintaining its aircraft carriers in 2020 alone. But the embarrassing leaking problems were just the beginning.

In a report released on June 25, 2020, the National Audit Office discovered delays in developing the Crowsnest airborne early-warning radar, which will affect the carrier strike’s capabilities in its first two years. There was also a delay in building escorts and logistics ships to support the 65,000-ton carriers, largely because the British government cannot afford them.

Finally, in May this year, the U.K. Carrier Strike Group led by the Hms Queen Elizabeth sailed to the South China Sea ahead of massive war games to send a message to China. The maiden voyage was also to show its allies that Britain is ready to defend Western interests in the region. More importantly, it was to boost the U.S. Navy to counter China, which has the world’s biggest navy.

But the British Royal Navy did not only want to send a warning to the Chinese. It also wanted to do the same with the Russian. When the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender entered territorial waters off the coast of the disputed territory of Crimea, Russia fired warning shots and an SU-24 jet dropped four bombs in the path of the British warship. Russia, unlike China, has very little patience.

Moscow said the intrusion, which occurred on June 23, was a deliberate and planned provocation. It said the HMS Defender went at least three kilometres inside what it described as its territory off Cape Fiolent in Crimea, hence it had the right to “bomb on target”. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine after a military intervention in the region in 2014.

Andrei Kelin, Russia’s ambassador to the U.K., said HMS Defender “did not respond to several warnings, at least the warnings were issued every 10 minutes”. Denying the Russian had engaged in unnecessary aggressive, he also said – “The British ship was not only in the Black Sea, which is a sea adjacent to Russia, but in the territorial waters of Russian Federation.”

Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia could have sunk the British warship and accused Washington of being the mastermind behind the “provocation”, designed to reveal how Russian forces in Crimea would react to such intrusions. Apparently, a U.S. spy plane had taken off from Greece earlier on the same day to watch how Russia would respond to HMS Defender.

However, the United Kingdom disputed Russia’s claims, insisting no warning shots were fired and no bombs were dropped. Instead, Britain argued that the so-called warning shots were part of Russian military exercise. Interestingly, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted Russian jets flew over the HMS Defender, one dropping as low as 500 feet (150 metres).

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said HMS Defender was acting legally in international waters and described the vessel’s route as “wholly appropriate”. He said – “The important point is that we don’t recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea. These are Ukrainian waters and it was entirely right to use them to go from A to B.”

Subsequently, on June 27, just four days after the Britain-Russia confrontation, which led to a war of words, a Russian submarine stalked the British Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG). The stalking by the Russian sub, believed to be a diesel-electric Kilo-Class submarine from the Black Sea fleet, saw Merlin helicopters scrambled to search for the submarine.

The Russian sub, a Project 636 Varshavyanka, is considered to be one of the quietest diesel submarines in the world. It is capable of detecting an enemy submarine at a range three to four times greater than it can be detected itself. In fact, the Type 636 submarine is designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface-ship warfare (ASuW).

Apparently, the stalking happened when the Royal Navy’s group was passing through the eastern Mediterranean, the region where Russian submarines are known to be active. The Russia’s navy has become very active in the region due in part to its involvement in the Syrian Civil War and Kremlin’s use of the naval base at Tartus, Syria.

Tartus is the Russian Navy’s only Mediterranean repair and replenishment point. During the Syrian Civil War, Moscow had deployed the fearsome S-400 missile defence system to defend not only its Tartus naval facility, but also Hmeymim airbase, a strategic military operation centre for Russia in Syria – free of charge and with no time limit.

Besides the Russian naval facility in Tartus, it also has access to Cypriot ports. The submarine that was stalking the Queen Elizabeth-led Carrier Strike Group was based with the Russian military base in Cyprus, from where the sub was deployed as part of the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea – the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea.

Interestingly, the hunt for the Russian sub had attracted huge amount or resources. The British had deployed not only two Type-23 frigates HMS Kent and HMS Richmond (both have anti-submarine warfare capabilities), but also hunter-killer submarine, believed to be HMS Astute or HMS Ambush. At least 7 Merlin MK2 helicopters designed for submarine-hunting were also involved.

Sonobuoys – equipment designed to sink beneath the water to listen and detect submarines – were dropped from Merlin helicopters to search for the enemy sub. The Telegraph revealed that the USS The Sullivans, an American destroyer, as well as HNLMS Evertsen, a Dutch frigate, could have been involved in the massive operation to find the Russian submarine.

It’s unknown if the British Royal Navy was able to pinpoint the Russian sub, or at least find out how the £3 billion aircraft carrier was being stalked. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson could only say – “We do not comment on operational matters of this kind, but can confirm that robust measures are in place to protect HMS Queen Elizabeth and the ships of the UK Carrier Strike Group.”

In the same breath, it’s also unknown if the Russian Kilo-Class submarine deliberately made known of its stalking activity, and challenged the Royal Navy to catch it if they can. It would be quite humiliating to be stalked as the HMS Queen Elizabeth was on a world tour as part of a “Global Britain” mission to restore the Royal Navy as Europe’s foremost naval power.

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