PREVIEW

HMS Somerset (right) maintains watch on Russian corvette RFS Soobrazitelny (left) and ro-ro transporter/support ship MV Sparta II (centre).

The Royal Navy has kept a constant watch on a Russian naval group throughout the Christmas holidays as it sailed past the British Isles.

Nearly 200 crew of frigate HMS Somerset were recalled to their ship in Devonport Naval Base on Christmas Day and sailed on Friday December 27, making best speed to meet up with the corvette RFS Soobrazitelny and her two support vessels, MV Sparta II and MV General Skobelev.

The Russian force was encountered in the North Sea from where it has been constantly monitored as it passed through the Dover Strait and into the English Channel.