Royal Navy submarine hunters ready to protect HMS Queen Elizabeth after Nato war game

Portsmouth-based Type 23s HMS Kent and HMS Westminster took part in the two-week-long drill off the Icelandic coast.

Known as Dynamic Mongoose, the exercise saw the pair of frigates working alongside warships, submarines and patrol aircraft from five other Nato states.

Joining Kent and Westminster in one of the largest British shows of force at the exercise in years were the ship’s embarked anti-submarine Merlin helicopters, hunter-killer submarine HMS Trenchant and for the first time, a new RAF P8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

In all, more than 500 UK military personnel were involved in the exercise.

The effort comes ahead of the maiden mission of the navy’s £3.1bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, early next year.

HMS Kent – which is earmarked to accompany Queen Elizabeth as part of her carrier strike group when it deploys – got in concerted submarine-hunting time against live ‘targets’: both nuclear-powered boats such as Trenchant, and traditional diesel subs from Germany and Norway.

The Portsmouth-based frigate used her towed-array – a long tube-like sonar which either actively searches for submarines by sending sound waves through the water, or simply listens for a boat’s tell-tale noise – and hull-mounted sonar for nearly three whole days while her Merlin helicopter spent ten hours on the hunt.

The Merlin lowered its ‘dipping’ sonar into the ocean and, in conjunction with the maritime patrol aircraft, peppered the water with sonobuoy listening devices.

Lieutenant Georgina Harding, Kent’s operations officer, said the crew were ready to protect the Senior Service’s 65,000-tonne future flagship from any underwater threat.

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‘Dynamic Mongoose was an excellent opportunity for Kent to operate with Allied nations, exercising with a range of live submarine and air assets,’ she added.

‘The period also allowed us to develop our task group integration and operating principles – further preparation for deployment with HMS Queen Elizabeth during next year’s Carrier Strike Group 21.’

Dynamic Mongoose is the second of Nato’s two annual anti-submarine exercises, having run Dynamic Manta off Sicily to concentrate on hunting in warm Mediterranean waters.

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