An amazing group of Russian ships in the North Sea

Four Russian cruisers, a frigate and two support ships appear to be in the North Sea at the same time. The timing of this focus in the North Sea is remarkable because it coincides with NATO’s Dynamic Mongoose exercise taking place in this area and next week’s Massive Shield exercise. Dutch ships take part in both exercises.

The Odintsovo (Karakurt-class) corvette leaves the Baltic Sea on May 2, along with sister ship Sovetsk. These are relatively small ships with a displacement of only 800 meters and a length of 67 meters, but the ships are heavily armed with Caliber cruise missiles. (Photo: Kurt Pedersen/ under Broen)

Norwegian Defense Update on Another Destroyer and “Increased Activity” at the bottom of this page

Based on the latest AIS signal from the Russian supply ship Kama, that ship will be midway between the Faroe Islands and the Norwegian city of Bergen, at the transition between the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. The Kama belongs to a group of four ships that have recently left the Mediterranean.

A second group of ships has recently left the Baltic Sea.

Where these ships sail is not yet known. It is also not certain if these ships will converge, but the movements will undoubtedly be followed by NATO.

Four ships from the Mediterranean
The ships that have recently left the Mediterranean are the Steregushchy-class cruisers Stoiky and Soobrazitelny, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich and the supply ship Kama (Kaliningradneft class).

It was originally suspected that this group of ships would head straight to the Baltic Sea, because the frigate Admiral Grigorovich has been in the Mediterranean since October 28, 2021. was present They were not allowed to go to the Black Sea due to the closure of the Bosporus. On the morning of this day, May 4, Russia announced that Admiral Grigorovich would indeed be given maintenance at the Yantar shipyard in the Baltic Sea. But it is likely that Admiral Grigorovich will have a mission in the North Sea first.

On 30 April, an AIS signal from the supply ship Kama was spotted in the Western Roads off the west side of Scotland. AIS signals should not be taken for granted, they can be manipulated. But the lack of reports of Russian ships passing through the Channel suggests that the entire group, coming from the Mediterranean Sea, circumnavigated Ireland.

Three ships from the Baltic Sea
The group of ships in the North Sea also consists of two cruisers from the Baltic Sea. It concerned the Karakurt-class cruisers Sovetsk and Odintsovo. Both ships passed the Great Belt on 2 May and headed north to Kattegat. Both cruisers were delivered in accordance with Hi Sutton Accompanied by the Gorin-class tugboat Yakov Grebelsky.

RFS Admiral Grigorovich on archive footage. (Photo: Zr.Ms. Rotterdam/Defence)

Concentration of firepower in the strategic location
If the ships banded together and formed a squadron, the group would possess a respectable concentration of firepower, by Russian standards. This squadron has the capacity to launch 24 Caliber cruise missiles. Both the Admiral Grigorovich and the Karakurt-class cruisers have 8 launch cells for the Caliber cruise missile. In addition, each Steregushchy class cruiser is armed with eight Kh-35 Uran anti-ship missiles.

Logistical reason?
The choice of this site may also have more to do with logistical than operational necessity. The supply ship Kama belongs to the Northern Fleet while the five warships will set course for the Baltic Sea. The position of the Russian squadron allowed the ships to be resupplied one last time before the Kama sailed to Murmansk.

The Karakurt cruisers are unlikely to continue in the Mediterranean. They usually do not sail further than the North Sea.

Response to NATO exercises
The time these ships are in the North Sea corresponds to the final phase of NATO’s Exercise Dynamic Mongoose, which focuses on antisubmarine warfare in the North Atlantic. The exercises began on April 24 and include the deployment of 15 NATO warships and 10 aircraft. The exercises are being conducted by Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SMNG1) and will primarily take place in the waters around Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The dynamic mongoose lasts for eleven days and is completed on May 5th.

By May 1, SMNG1 had already returned to the North Sea operating in waters near Norway and Sweden. Also participating in the exercise is the Dutch frigate M-HNLMS Van Amstel, which made a short logistical stop in the port of Bergen on April 29.

With Dynamic Mongoose wrapping up, next week’s Massive Shield exercise will be taking place a bit further into the Southwest. This is a biennial training in Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD). Dutch frigate Zr.Ms. Tromp will then have to detect ballistic targets in space using the new SMART-L MM/N radar.

The destroyed Vice Admiral Kulakov (Udaloy class) was seen yesterday from a Norwegian naval vessel. (Photo: Norwegian Navy)

Supply tanker Kama, also photographed on 3 May. (Photo: Norwegian Navy)

Update May 4, 3:00 PM – Norway: “Activity increased next week”
The Norwegian Ministry of Defense wrote that it expects a lot of activity in the coming period. Forsvariet wrote to her: “May and June are hard months.” website. According to Norway, this involves a lot of NATO activity, but also a lot of Russian activity.

“Currently, several Russian ships are operating in the North Sea, and this activity is the highest since before the pandemic,” the Norwegians wrote.

The Norwegian Armed Forces confirmed that Russian ships operate in international waters and that their activities are legitimate and in accordance with international law.

“The Norwegian Armed Forces closely monitor Russian activities, and we do so constantly with our allies. We are aware of the activity and have a good idea of ​​what is happening off our coast.”

The Norwegian defense wrote on Twitter that Vice Admiral Kulakov is also in the North Sea. This destroyer comes from the Northern Fleet.

The Norwegians write that NATO’s moves have a lot to do with the colossal shield, in which 13 NATO countries participate. On the Russian side, Victory Day is also celebrated on May 9, although this is less abundant than usual on Putin’s orders and they seem unable to explain the increased activity.

Author: Frederick Van Lokeren Frederic has been writing as a freelancer at Marineschips.nl since 2022. As a logistics officer in the Belgian Navy (2010-2017), he was the commander of the BNS Lobelia mine unit during the maintenance period and the head of logistics on the M-frigate BNS Louise-Marie. Frederick is now a Director in a Supply Chain Business Consultancy in Moore Belgium. Moreover, Frederick closely follows naval and amphibious developments, with particular interest in the Russian Navy and Marine Corps.

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