Royal Navy: RFA Proteus gets into gear to deal with "unprecedented threat" from "long-standing nemesis" Russia

An investigation in The Sunday Times revealed that operations on RFA Proteus are stepping up up after underwater sensors - believed to be used by Russia - were discovered. These devices were intended to spy on the UK’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, the national title reports.

One of these vessels is continually deployed as part of the British continuous at-sea deterrent. Senior naval officers were deployed to RFA Proteus, a Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance vessel which will be used for protecting undersea cables and other infrastructure - while also being capable of acting as a mothership for drones and other un-crewed systems.

The Times reported that crews prepared remotely operated vehicles which were lowed into the sea bed. Roughly two dozen sailors from the Royal Navy’s diving and mine-hunting squadrons were on board, who are experts in searching for, recovering, and destroying underwater enemy munitions.

The national publication said: “They are here for the first time and will become an integral part of the ship’s operations, because Britain’s critical undersea infrastructure is under unprecedented threat from a long-standing nemesis: Russia.” Royal Navy vessels have been monitoring Moscow vessels for much of this year, with HMS Somerset being tasked with these operations for more than 100 days.

Putin’s spy ship Yantar was spotted sailing around the English Channel for much of January. HMS Somerset and Portsmouth-based HMS Tyne were deployed in response.

Defence secretary John Healey previously told the House of Commons that Russia was “the most pressing and immediate threat”, but also said to MPs that Moscow was “dangerous but fundamentally weak”. Over the past 15 months, at least 11 internet cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged. Some ships were dragging their anchors across the sea bed.

RFA Proteus is currently the only navy surface vessel capable of dealing with threats at the depths of the ocean which can drop thousands of metres - compared to the nearby waters encircling Britain which are seldom deeper than 300m. Roughly 30 civilian sailors from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will crew RFA Proteus, who will work alongside the specialist naval teams.

Further training on the ship allowed sailors to operate the SeaCat: a cutting-edge 3m-long torpedo-shaped autonomous vehicle which is equipped with a high-resulting camera and advanced sonar systems on its wings. It can be run for 24 hours at depths of 300m to hunt mines and other underwater devices. Sailors also prepared the Gavia, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that can plunge down to 1,000m deep. Other vessels were also trialed.

During a tour of the vessel and HMNB Portsmouth in January, armed forces minister Luke Pollard said: “Proteus’ capabilities are incredible, and they add to an already formidable set of capabilities across our military to defend our infrastructure. Those nations that are thinking about interfering with our critical national infrastructure should be in no doubt that we will use our formidable military assets to defend our national security. Proteus’ capabilities are cutting-edge, world leading and it will be a part of defending our national security in the future, especially undersea cables.”