Baltic QRA

[Regie Mental]

BBC news report on RAF QRA in Lithuania, weather looks grim:

BBC News - RAF Coningsby Typhoons on patrol in Eastern Europe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-27417257)

[Arty Fufkin]

Isn't it about time someone asked the rather vital question of whether or not they are staying in hotels?
Oops, I think I just did.

[Cabe LeCutter]

Didn't take long to start the bitchyness
Head down, look out for the flak

[Arty Fufkin]

Well, it was going to get there sooner or later, couldn't see much point in hanging around!

[Fat Magpie]

The Russian / West farce continues, just keep the plebs occupied and frightened.

I read Joe Bidens (US vice president) son just land a top job with a Ukrainian gas company.

http://rt.com/business/158660-biden-son-ukraine-company/

[FODPlod]

Someone's getting quite upset about NATO forces in the Baltic states. Bear in mind that this is a Russian news story about ships involved in a routine operation that has been going on for years: Latvian mayor complains about NATO sailors (http://rt.com/news/158804-latvia-nato-occupiers-mayor/)
Crewmembers of NATO warships deployed to the Latvian port city of Ventspils are behaving like occupying forces, who don’t consider local laws apply to them, the mayor of the city charged. This discredits the alliance in the eyes of Latvians, he added.

“NATO sailors in Ventspils were behaving like pigs, ignored Latvian laws and municipal rules,” Aivars Lembergs told LETA news agency. “Drunk, they urinated in public, right on shop windows, vomited, drank in public, which is not allowed. They picked flowers from flowerbeds and gave them to prostitutes.”

Lembergs, a vocal critic of Latvia’s cooperation with NATO, added that the foreign military personnel “behaved like occupiers, who do not recognize Latvia’s sovereignty.”

The unflattering description comes as the mayor was commenting on an incident in Ventspils, in which several NATO sailors clashed with locals at a night club last weekend. One of the sailors, a 21-year-old Dutch national, sustained serious injuries and had to be taken to hospital with several broken face bones and a concussion. The mayor alleged that the Latvian participants of the fight were simply protecting local women from harassment by the visitors...

Also bear in mind that the naval group visiting Ventspils over the weekend included ships from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as well as Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Besides attending the pre-sail conference of OPEN SPIRIT 2014, a Latvian Navy-led Historic Ordnance Disposal operation in the Baltic, the group celebrated its 41st birthday on Sunday.

http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/images/snmcmg1 birthday cakes.jpg

On Monday, the group sailed from Ventspils and has since been busy finding and disposing of Second World War ordnance in the Baltic. The Belgian minehunter BELLIS detected this bomb/mine on sonar yesterday morning and subsequently detonated it:

http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/images/open%20spirit%2014%20mine%20a.jpg

http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/images/open%20spirit%2014%20mine%20b.jpg

[HTB]

Sounds much like a pre-JMC gathering at Rosyth...:E

Mister B

[Tankertrashnav]

It may not be generally known but we were involved in a Baltic Campaign during the Crimean War. A large number of naval ships operated a successful blockade to prevent the Russian Northern Fleet getting out and sailing down to the Crimea to reinforce the Black Sea Fleet.

Participants got a rather nice campaign medal- wonder if they'll reissue it with clasp "2014"!

http://medalsofengland.com/uploads/100428_01_40_211.jpg

[FODPlod]

More recently still, British forces supported the White Russians against the Bolsheviks during the British Campaign in the Baltic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_campaign_in_the_Baltic_%281918%E2%80%9319%29) (1918–19), the Latvians against the Bolsheviks during their War of Independence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_War_of_Independence) (1918-20), the Estonians against the Bolsheviks during their War of Independence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_War_of_Independence) (1918-20) and the Lithuanians against the Bolsheviks during their Wars of Independence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Wars_of_Independence) (1918-1920).

The Royal Navy bore the brunt of these campaigns by denying the Bolsheviks the ability to move by sea, bombarding them on land in support of Estonian and Latvian troops and providing supplies. In the course of events, the naval squadron lost the light cruiser HMS Cassandra (mined), the destroyers HMS Verulam (mined) and HMS Vittoria (torpedoed by Bolshevik submarine Pantera), the submarine L55 (surface action against Bolshevik destroyers), the sloops HMS Gentian and HMS Myrtle (both mined) and the Coastal Motor Boats CMB-24, CMB-62 and CMB-79 (surface action against Bolshevik Fleet) and CMB-67 (stranded).

The 107 RN dead plus five RAF dead from the carrier HMS Vindictive (http://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-04-HMS_Vindictive.htm), whose aircraft (ex-HMS Argus) made numerous attacks on the Bolshevik naval base at Kronstadt, are commemorated on a memorial plaque in Portsmouth Cathedral with corresponding memorials in Tallinn and Riga.

http://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-04-HMS_Vindictive-N105_3.JPG
A ditched Grain Griffin being recovered on board HMS Vindictive after
returning from a raid on Kronstadt in Baltic Sea 13 August 1919

Following the First World War, entitlement to the British War Medal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_War_Medal) was extended to cover the period 1919–20 for service in mine-clearing at sea and other operations in North and South Russia, the eastern Baltic, Siberia, the Black Sea and the Caspian.

[Wander00]

Was there not a VC awarded to the skipper of one of the CMBs. ISTR something on display at Duxford


Found this on a Naval History website


17th/18th - Attack on Kronstadt Naval Base - Late on the 17th, eight British 55ft type Coastal Motor Boats led by Cdr Claude Dobson in 'CMB-31' headed out of the Finnish base of Bjorko Sound only 30 miles from Russia's main naval port. Supported by RAF bombing raids, they broke into the inner harbour in the early morning. Cdr Dobson directed the boats headed by CMB's '31', '79' and '88'. Lt Agar VC in 'CMB-4' remained outside on guard.
As the attacks developed, old armoured cruiser 'PAMIAT AZOVA' (1890, 6,000t) serving as submarine depot ship 'Dvina' was hit by 'CMB-79' and sunk. In the rapidly moving action, 'CMB-79' (1917, 11t, 1 or 2-18in torpedoes) was then lost. The commanding officer of 'CMB-88' was killed and Lt Steele, second-in-command took over and pressed on. Accounts vary, but both Dobson's 'CMB-31' and Steele's 'CMB-88' appear to have made one hit each on the two biggest ships. Dreadnought 'PETROPAVLOSK' (1914, 24,000t, 12-12in) sank in shallow water and was salvaged later, and pre-dreadnought 'Andrei Pervozvanny' (1908, 17,400t, 4-12in) seriously damaged. The British boats failed to hit the Russian guardship, destroyer 'Gavriil' which sank two more of the attackers ('CMB-24' and 'CMB-62' or 'CMB-67' - accounts vary. The surviving five boats escaped. Cdr Claude Dobson DSO, RN and Lt Gordon Steele RN were awarded the Victoria Cross.


Agar was the chap I was thinking of, not sure where he won his VC


Then found this


In 1905 at the age of 14, Agar enlisted in the Royal Navy and remained in the service until 1946. He was aboard the Hibernia, serving as Lieutenant when the war broke out in 1914, as part of Sir John Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet. In 1919 Agar saw service in the waters surrounding Russia, and sunk the 6,645 ton Russian Cruiser, Oleg, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on 30 June 1919.
Augustus ‘Gus’ Agar retired to a farm at Hartley Mauditt near Alton, producing strawberries. In 1967, the coastal motor boat (CMB 4) in which he was awarded the VC, was being transferred from Southampton and stopped in Alton for a final farewell. It is now displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford site in Cambridgeshire.

[ShotOne]

These actions by the Royal Navy are probably the reason these countries still exist rather than being minor Soviet principalities. My Grandfather served in HMS Westminster which was with HMS Cassandra, mentioned above, when she was mined. Westminster and another destroyer came alongside the sinking cruiser in pitch black and took off the entire crew, the only unfortunate exception being one seamen who fell between the hulls.

[FODPlod]

Funny how history has a habit of repeating itself. Crimea? Baltic?

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/baltic.gif

History today: Crimea in Finland (http://www.historytoday.com/matthew-kirk/crimea-finland):
Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Finland, Matthew Kirk, describes the impact of the Crimean War on that country and how it is being commemorated.

A couple of years ago, before we came to live in Finland, a friend said ‘of course you’ll be there for all the Crimean War anniversaries’. A little surprised, I gently pointed out that Finland was well over a thousand miles north of the Crimea. ‘I know’ he said, witheringly, ‘but it was in what is now Finland that the Crimean War was won’...With all this talk of the Victoria Cross and with TTN's post (http://www.pprune.org/8479450-post8.html) in mind, it is interesting to note that the first VC, gazetted in 1857, was awarded to Rear Admiral Charles Davis Lucas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Davis_Lucas), the then Mate of HMS Hecla, who picked up a Russian shell from the deck and hurled it overboard during the bombardment of the coastal fortress at Bomarsund (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bomarsund), guarding the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia off Finland, in 1854.

[Regie Mental]

BFBS' take on it:

The RAF Typhoon Pilots Who Have Become NATO Guardians | British Forces News (http://web202.ssvc.com/news/articles/raf/2719)

[pr00ne]

Shotone,

"These actions by the Royal Navy are probably the reason these countries still exist rather than being minor Soviet principalities"

What?

You do know who won don't you?

[baffman]

Shotone,
"These actions by the Royal Navy are probably the reason these countries still exist rather than being minor Soviet principalities"
What?
You do know who won don't you?

No offence, but do you? Previously part of Imperial Russia, the Baltic states retained their independence until invaded in 1940 under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That surely played some part in the fact that they are independent now.

[FODPlod]

These actions by the Royal Navy are probably the reason these countries still exist rather than being minor Soviet principalities

Shotone,

What?

You do know who won don't you?

Why, what have you heard? Do they no longer exist?

The Baltic states gained their sovereign independence with Western help immediately after the First World War and, despite a later period as SSRs (Soviet Socialist Republics), they have remained identifiable republics ever since.

[MATELO]

One of my last tours overseas in the RAF back in 2004.

I could have come home with 10 wives........


Didn't think we still deployed there.


43Sqn QRA for Latvia/Estonia [Archive] - PPRuNe Forums (http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-150908.html)

[Deepest Norfolk]

Nice vid of the "Q" launch. What were they going to do? Throw drop tanks at them?

DN

:)

[BOAC]

whether or not they are staying in hotels - one hopes so for their sakes and that the room service is up to standard with 'extra towels':)

[FODPlod]

Royal Air Force Typhoons Retasked to Investigate Unidentified Russian Navy Corvette and Helicopter (http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1799)


RAF Typhoons have had their first encounter with Russian forces as part of their mission to protect Baltic airspace. The British fighters were already airborne on a training sortie when they were re-tasked to intercept an unidentified aircraft close to the Latvian border. At the same time Danish fighters were scrambled out Amari, Estonia, in support...

http://www.navyrecognition.com/images/banners/RAF_Typhoon_Stereguschiy-class%20corvette_Russian_Navy_1.jpg

[Lonewolf_50]

Good looking ship the Russians have there. Their bird on the back looks like a Helix (Ka-27) to me, in the photo with the linked article, so I think our journo friends got that one right.

[Regie Mental]

Further RAF produced video of 135EAW and the role of Typhoon on Baltic QRA.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MNe3kaxD4AM