A retired USN aviator capt commented today on Fox News that the extant international agreement regarding flying near warships specifies a height of 1000 ft parallel to the ship and that in the Cold War days it would have been normal for a diplomatic protest to be filed.
GR4 techie:
Indeed, well-trained Buccaneer crews flew very low over the sea. It's been shown may times before but look at the video below and pause at 2 min 37 sec. The wing is below the top of the side of the hull of a RN Type 42 which I estimate to be 20ft to 30ft above the sea. I'm sure some ex-Buccaneer aircrew on here could comment further / correct:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6QckzDpUQ8
Also, in the flyby of the ATC tower at Gibralter in the video, the wings are below the level of the roof of the ground floor roof / VCR interface. Brings back memories of the RAF Laarbruch demonstrations of 16-ship coordinated airfield attacks where some aircraft were below the level of the Bloodhound radar heads (raised on mounds).