In the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay, the silhouette of the Russian submarine did not go unnoticed. But what was he doing off Brittany at the end of September? The Navy ignores it. For the French forces, the essential was elsewhere. In a video posted on its social networks, the Navy explains how its multi-mission frigate Normandie, based in Brest (Finistère) tracked the Russian submarine. As fighting rages in Ukraine, the passage of a submarine from Vladimir Putin’s forces off the French coast has been taken very seriously.
In its video, the Navy mainly promotes its frigate, explaining that it “has extremely high-performance sensors” with its sonars and its Cayman helicopter. The ship would thus be able to follow the Russian submarine even if it were to dive into the Bay of Biscay. “We have to control the military activities that take place there,” explains Commander Thomas Vuong.
The escort of the aircraft was carried out in agreement with the allied forces. A Spanish patrol boat followed the submarine as it moved off the Iberian Peninsula. And the British forces took over from France when the Russian apparatus passed Finistère. Why was the submarine present in the area? According to the maritime prefect of the Atlantic questioned by The Telegram, the transit of submarines through this area “is not uncommon”. What is much rarer is to observe them on the surface.