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Countering Soviet Spy Ships - How the UK kept the SSBN force safe at sea

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  In 2025 the subject of Russian monitoring of British waters and vessels remains newsworthy. In April the Russian Ambassador to the UK confirmed that the Russians did attempt to monitor Royal Navy submarines, yet this is hardly new or novel. Throughout the Cold War, off the cold waters of Malin Head, the most northerly point of the island of Ireland, a small Soviet trawler would spend months at a time sitting and listening. Her target was not fish, but submarines. This vessel was intended to act as an intelligence collector, targeting the major US and Royal Navy submarine bases on the Clyde, to try and collect invaluable intelligence on the movements and characteristics of their submarines. The AGI was seen as a genuine threat to national security and led to a range of measures to counter its presence and protect the most sensitive national secrets. The Russians are known to have maintained converted trawlers off Malin Head and elsewhere for decades. By the 1980s there was growi...

Why BRITANNIA no Longer Rules the Waves. The Story of the Replacement Royal Yacht.

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The Royal Yacht BRITANNIA remains one of the most timeless and beautiful vessels ever built in the United Kingdom. Designed in the early 1950s to replace the previous Royal Yacht ‘VICTORIA & ALBERT’, she served for over 40 years as a very visible symbol of the British Monarchy and State. Cruising the world, she was present at fleet reviews, independence parades, state visits and even participated in an evacuation. As a floating palace, embassy for the United Kingdom and location for diplomatic talks and trade deals, BRITANNIA was the embodiment of the phrase ‘Soft Power’. Yet she was also to be the last of 83 Royal Yachts and was paid off without replacement in 1997. This blog article explores the near decade long sage of the decision not to replace her, and for the first time ever, brings together the full story of the Royal Yacht replacement that was not to be. Commissioned in 1954, the BRITANNIA was designed in an era when long haul travel was mostly carried out by ship. Travel ...