Royal Navy ship opens fire near UK city after keeping an eye on Russian vessels (2025)

A Royal Navy ship, HMS Somerset, was seen firing into the air with smoke billowing across the water as it arrived in a UK costal city on Friday morning after departing Hamburg on April 7

A UK city was rocked by a series of loud bangs after a Royal Navy ship opened fire.

The HMS Somerset, a Type 23 frigate, made quite the entrance into Plymouth Sound at about 10.50am today, fresh from setting sail from Hamburg on April 7. The city's residents were left baffled by the explosive sounds and plumes of smoke as the ship let off some rounds into the sky.

HMS Somerset has recently been busy keeping tabs on two Russian ships in the Mediterranean and has been called up thrice in just a month to survey Russian convoys travelling in the the area.

However, it is understood HMS Somerset was was engaged in a gun salute on Friday morning, marking the end of her three-month stint up in the High North, which includes the chilly Arctic waters, reports Mirror.

A local still rattled from the shots have said: "It was very loud. It properly startled me. We heard these loud bangs and then saw smoke coming from the ship, and honestly thought it had caught fire or something before realising it was probably just a salute or something like that."

Last month, HMS Somerset took to the waters with tanker RFA Tidesurge to shadow the Russian landing ship RFN Alexander Otrakovsky and merchant vessel MV Ascalon through the Channel and North Sea, as they made their way towards the Baltic.

At the time, HMS Somerset's boss Commander Joel Roberts announced: "Somerset has been frequently activated to conduct this type of operation given the tempo of Russian activity around the United Kingdom's territorial and sensitive waters."

The commander stressed the Royal Navy's readiness and said: "In maintaining units at very high readiness to respond, the Royal Navy offers presence, deterrence, persistence, flexibility and can deliver or facilitate a range of military and diplomatic options to support our national objectives.

"The team in Somerset remains focused, continues to integrate widely with our NATO allies, and are using a range of strategically located UK-based services and infrastructure to sustain the ship on operations."

The Daily Star previously reported on the Kremlin's use of a fleet of “ghost ships” to dodge detection and supply warlords – accused of "crimes against humanity" – with weaponry. It comes in an apparent attempt to spread Russian influence and encircle Europe.

According to the EU and US, Russia's fleet of ghost ships have allowed the country to evade sanctions on the sale of its oil. These ships employ a range of tricks to manipulate their AIS system to avoid detection and appear in locations which they aren’t.

Russia has also been accused of using these ghost ships to smuggle weapons, money and military personnel into Libya directly aiding the Head of the Libyan army, the warlord Khalifa Haftar.