Where is the Royal Navy deployed right now and are there any British warships in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine?

As the world continues to grapple with the escalating crisis in Ukraine, which is under siege from Russian invaders, Britain’s Senior Service remains operational at sea, providing reassurance to allies.

A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: ‘The Royal Navy has ships on operations around the world 365 day a year including those that are forward deployed to the Gulf such as the mine countermeasure vessels and the offshore patrol vessels to the Atlantic.’

Navy warships supporting Nato in the Mediterranean

Already in the eastern Mediterranean, supporting a Nato fleet as part of Britain’s response to the conflict in Ukraine, is patrol ship HMS Trent.

The vessel is one of five Portsmouth-based offshore patrol ships currently on operations across the globe.

Today Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond has set sail from Portsmouth to join her, bringing to bear her state-of-the-art air defence system and weaponry.

The £1bn vessel had been due to leave last week but was delayed by a series of technical issues and weather-related woes.

Operations in the Pacific

Also at sea are Trent’s fellow patrol ships, HMS Spey, HMS Tamar, HMS Medway and HMS Forth, which are all forward-deployed at all four corners of the globe

HMS Tamar is currently operating close to Japan, in the Pacific Ocean.

While HMS Spey is based thousands of miles to the south, near Tonga. The warship was recently part of the humanitarian relief effort scrambled in support of the island following the eruption of an underwater volcano last month which devastated Tongan communities.

On the other side of the world, in the Caribbean, is HMS Medway, which is providing security and reassurance to British overseas territories in the region.

Caribbean and Falklands are defended by patrol ships

As well as offering humanitarian assistance to nations battered by hurricanes, the patrol ship is also part of a mission to clampdown on drug gangs and smugglers in the Caribbean.

Thousands of miles south of Medway is HMS Forth, which is acting as the permanent presence around the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.

The furthest south of the naval fleet deployed across the globe is icebreaker HMS Protector, which is supporting scientific research into climate change in the Antarctic.

In Gibraltar are two of the Royal Navy’s smallest vessels, HMS Cutlass and HMS Dagger.

Defending Gibraltar and the crucial shipping lanes of the Gulf

The two fast patrol boats form the navy’s Gibraltar squadron, tasked with keeping watch over The Rock and the Strait of Gibraltar.

They are supported by the larger P2000 patrol boats HMS Dasher and Pursuer. Last month, 68ft HMS Dasher was pictured shadowing a 300ft Spanish vessel, Furor P46, as it approached British waters around Gibraltar.

Also at sea close to Gibraltar is the large ocean survey ship HMS Scott – which is the only ship of her class – and the smaller survey ship HMS Echo.

South of these vessels, in the Gulf, is the navy’s permanent presence in the Middle East.

Minehunters HMS Middleton and HMS Chiddingfold, from Portsmouth, and HMS Bangor and HMS Penzance help keep the critical Gulf shipping lanes free from mines.

While Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose provides more naval punch, being forward-deployed in Bahrain.

Elsewhere, hundreds of Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade are carrying out training in Norway, ahead of a series of Nato drills in the region - Exercise Cold Response - next month.

Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, currently alongside in Portsmouth, is expected to take part in this exercise.

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A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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