00:00So today you've seen an activation of two of the Navy's fleet ready escorts,
00:06so ships that are held at very high readiness to respond to any potential threat
00:13that's perceived against the UK interest. We're a maritime nation, we depend on freedom of
00:23navigation and sea lines of communication, so in the last six months for context HMS Iron Dukes
00:28has been activated for similar tasks 13 times. So this is routine business for the Royal Navy
00:38and routine business for the Navy of a maritime nation such as the UK. So I think it's fair to
00:42say in the last five years the number of Russian vessels transiting through UK waters has increased.
00:49This task group that you can see, one of the warships over my shoulder,
00:54it's assessed that they don't, you know I assess they don't pose a specific threat to the UK,
00:58they're transporting kit and equipment as has been widely reported back from the Mediterranean
01:02to Russian ports in the Baltic, so they don't pose a specific threat. But it's not enough for
01:10the UK just to hope that non-allied warships passing through our waters won't impact our
01:16national security, the Royal Navy has to be here to make sure that they cannot interfere with our
01:20interests. You know this ship has 180 souls on board, you know give or take, including a number
01:26of visitors. So it is a team effort and it isn't just Iron Duke important to say, you know HMS Tyne
01:33our sister ship is a thousand yards astern of us, we have a French ship here with us on this
01:38particular operation, we've been overflown by French fast air, we have a Wildcat helicopter
01:45from 815 Naval Air Squadron and RFA Tyde Surge is some 20 miles astern of us escorting a number
01:53of other Russian vessels. So it is very much a whole force effort and not even just you know UK
01:59effort, we benefit very much from the collective security afforded to us by our steadfast commitment
02:06to NATO. I think that the message to the British public is it's important as a nation that we are
02:12not sea blind, you know we are so reliant on our ability to use sea lines of communication
02:19you know with freedom. Our economy depends on it without wishing to be too sensationalist,
02:25so that is the message for the British public that you know they should rest assured that the
02:29Royal Navy stands ready and if there is any threat to our interests, particularly close to home,
02:34the Royal Navy will be here.
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