Posted on 06/16/2026 11:29:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
It is believed a Russian Frigate fired at a passing yacht in British waters in the English Channel on Tuesday, prompting the Ministry of Defence to launch an investigation.
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed they are investigating an incident in the English Channel after a British-flagged yacht reported the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich had fired warning shots at it on Tuesday morning.
The incident, if proven, would be the most direct confrontation by a foreign warship off the coast of Britain in many years.
Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Mersey (foreground) escorts Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich and attending Russian submarine through the English Channel on 6 May 2026 / Royal Navy Image
Broadcaster Sky News states the yacht was sailing in the English Channel and that it was fired at when around 500 yards away from the Russian warship. There were no injuries or damage.
The incident is stated to have taken place around 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, which if correct would be within Britain’s Exclusive Economic Zone waters. Because the English Channel is so narrow, there are no international waters, with British and French maritime domains meeting in the middle.
The waterway is one of the busiest in the world and a traffic separation scheme — a “motorway” for the sea — is established through the centre to minimise the chances of crossing ships colliding. Foreign warships are typically escorted through the Channel and The Financial Times states British offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey was shadowing the Admiral Grigorovich at the time of the incident. Sailors from the Mersey visited the yacht after the incident to speak to crew and assess if there had been damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
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Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit using super elastic bubble plastic
Didn’t the Russian Baltic Fleet do the same thing in 1905? Of course back then the Royal Navy was more than capable of blowing them out of the water. Now, maybe not so much.
They should save that stuff for the battle of the Strait of Hormuz. Running the gauntlet and avoiding the Iranian mines.
give me some backstory on this article. did this happen and why. https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/06/16/russian-warship-fires-at-british-yacht-in-english-channel/
Completed 2 steps
Yes — this appears to be a real incident, and multiple major outlets independently reported it. The British Ministry of Defence said it was investigating reports that a Russian warship fired warning shots near a UK-registered yacht in the English Channel, and reporting from BBC, AP, The Guardian, and others matches on the basic facts: the ship was identified as the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich, the yacht was about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, and no injuries or damage were reported.
What likely happened
The core disagreement is about why the shots were fired. The Russian version says the yacht made a “dangerous approach,” ignored signals, and was warned with flares, audible alerts, and then warning shots when it kept closing in. BBC’s account says the yacht was a small, motorless vessel that drifted toward the warship in fog and that the ship fired after issuing warnings, while the UK side has said it is still examining the incident.
Why this matters
The location is important: the incident was reported outside UK territorial waters, so it sits in that gray zone where a confrontation can be serious without clearly becoming a territorial breach. It also comes against the backdrop of heightened UK-Russia maritime tensions, which is why outlets are treating it as more than a routine navigation issue.
Backstory
Breitbart’s angle is framing it as a hostile act by a Russian warship, but the broader reporting suggests a narrower story: a close pass, a perceived safety risk, and a warning-shot escalation rather than confirmed deliberate targeting of a civilian yacht. The most defensible read right now is that the event happened, but the exact sequence and responsibility for the close approach are still disputed.
A warning shot is like tooting your car horn to wake up someone that can cause an accident. Nothing to see here, a possible accident avoided. No reason for water rage.
Just classify the Russian ship as migrants and all is well.
Remember when Britannia ruled the waves?
“Russian Warship Fires ‘Warning Shots’ at British-Flagged Yacht in English Channel”. Why?
Nice memory!
Yes, a similar event happened in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. After the Japanese wore down the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Tsar decided to send one of his two remaining fleets (Baltic and Black Sea) to fight the Japanese.
As the Baltic Fleet was transiting the North Sea, jumpy Russian gunners fired on the British Dogger Bank fishing fleet, thinking they were Japanese destroyers, half a globe away from home.
The Royal Navy wanted to shoot back, but diplomats smoothed the fray, allowing the Russians to go on to their ultimate doom at Tsushima.
To avoid a collision according to the Russians......
And Britannica ruled the library..............
UK vows to phase out Russian diesel and jet fuel imports by new year
Not too skeered of the Rooskies, are they...
Any thread with a great film reference is a good thread.
The British yacht was a sailboat.
I have a vague understanding sailboats have the right of way over powered boats and the Russian boat should have made way, unless the English channel is very shallow and there’s a narrow path.
Out of their entire submarine fleet, I read that they are down to one seaworthy Astute-class attack submarine (HMS Anson) and one Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine are currently operational
Do we want a muslim country with a functioning sub fleet?
Sometime after 1945, the Brits decided to commit national suicide. No external power on earth could have defeated them. They were defeated by their own stupidity.
A very terse letter all in caps will be sent to Russia in about four or five weeks.
Just because it's a sailboat doesn't give it the right of way. Has to be under sail power only. If it was running an engine and had or didn't have a sail up, it doesn't automatically have the right of way. If the skipper of a sail boat, say a 30 foot long one, wants to play games with a full size warship and try and impose right of way rule on it, he's a damn fool. A sail boat can be turned in a hundred feet or so, a large warship might need a half mile or more to make a course correction.
Best thing a sailboat can do is stay the hell out of the way and respect the several thousand tons of iron that it is near.
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