Eight Russian ships left the North Sea again

Admiral Grigorovich west of Ireland last week. A pipe is visible on the right in this photo, it is the fuel pipe of the tanker Kama which sails in front of the frigate. The Grigorovich loads oil from the bow, the barge, of the ship. (Photo: Irish Navy)

Yesterday it was announced that the Russian Mediterranean Squadron, led by the frigate Admiral Grigorovich (Grigorovich class), the tanker Kama and two corvettes, had sailed north around Ireland. The Irish Navy and Air Force had spotted the vessels in Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or in international waters west of Ireland. The vessels had left the EEZ, Irish media reported yesterday. It was already suspected that the ships had chosen the ‘oceanic route’ due to the lack of reports on the passage through the English Channel and the North Sea and a brief report via AIS of the position of the associated tanker, but this was not not quite sure yet.

It was certain that the ships would go to the Baltic Sea. Admiral Grigorovich had been away from home (Sevastopol in Crimea) since October 2021 and needed maintenance, so the message came from Russia that the Grigorovich would go to the Yantar yard on the Baltic Sea.

The question, however, was whether the ships would receive another mission in the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean, possibly as part of the upcoming Formidable Shield exercise. It is not known whether they carried out additional activities and why they sailed to the Baltic Sea via the Atlantic Ocean.

spotted
In addition to the four Mediterranean ships, two Karakurt-class corvettes entered the North Sea with a tug last week. Maritime movements are notable and there is brief thought of forming a Russian squadron, which would still be outnumbered by NATO ships during Formidable Shield.

But it is now clear that forming a squadron is out of the question. The two Karakurt-class corvettes returned to the Baltic Sea on Saturday, observers at Denmark’s Great Belt Bridge found. Today, Admiral Grigorovich and the two Steregushchiy-class corvettes were also seen by observers entering the Baltic Sea.

Karakurt Odintsovo-class corvette back in the Baltic Sea. (Photo: Kurt Pedersen/ Under Broen

Last week, again by observers from this bridge, two more ships were seen heading north towards Skagerak and the North Sea. They were the tanker Vice-Admiral Paromov and the tug Sergey Balk, but according to their positions in the weather reports, they have now left the North Sea via the English Channel.

The Russian Navy’s AGI YURY IVANOV class heads west through the STROG this afternoon #shipsinpics #ships #dispatch #shipspotting @air_intel @The_Lookout_N @YorukIsik @WarshipCam @seawaves_mag @NavyLookout @CaptainLOMA pic.twitter.com/6h9yduaxdy

—Daniel Ferro (@Gibdan1) May 5, 2023

intelligence vessel
Vice Admiral Kulakov (Udaloy class) was not heard from public sources. This vessel set sail last week and will likely remain at sea for some time. The tanker Kama is part of the Northern Fleet and until this morning was “visible” via AIS as it sailed north through the Norwegian Sea.

Another interesting Russian vessel entered “Western waters” on Saturday. The intelligence vessel Yuri Ivanov (Yuri Ivanov class) is a relatively new ship specialized in the interception of electronic signals (SIGINT). The departure of Yuri Ivanov Friday Mediterranean Sea and will certainly be interested in Exercise Formidable Shield which revolves around defense against air targets and ballistic missiles.

	Author: Jaime Karremann Jaime is the founder of Marineschips.nl and has written over 1,500 articles on various naval topics. In 2017 he published his non-fiction book In the greatest secrecy onwards and later underwater thriller orca. Before Jaime began working full time at this site, he spent over 12 years in the Navy, mostly in a civilian role. Jaime studied communication in Groningen.

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