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Nick Ferrari reacts to news that a Russian warship fired warning shots at a yacht manned by an elderly couple as they both drifted 20 miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Tom Sharpe, a former Navy captain, talks through the incident from an expert military perspective, before Nick hears from Nick Thomas-Symonds MP for a government response. LBC callers also share their opinions on the situation. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #nickferrari #ukpolitics #politics #worldpolitics #russia #uk #military #russianmilitary #ukmilitary #war #navy #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
To Tom Sharp, who is a former Navy warship captain, sir, for more than 20 years as a Royal Navy officer
0:04
commanding four different warships and joins me now. Good to have you on, sir
0:08
What is the protocol, then? It is believed the gap was somewhere in the region of 400 plus metres, maybe 500 yards
0:15
What is the accepted distance, Tom? Morning to you. Good morning, Nick
0:19
500 yards would be perfectly acceptable to let a yacht pass to you
0:23
and it's very clear at that range that it's a family yacht and therefore not a threat
0:30
So this smacks to me of there's layers, as there always are
0:33
the sort of deeper layer you've got, the posture, the Russian posture issue that Sir Ben just outlined
0:39
It was drifting 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight. That's a very odd place to drift
0:44
You're in the middle of the shipping lane there. Sooner or later something's going to come past you very, very close
0:49
It's also 60 miles east of the Smirtos, the Dark Fleet ship that we boarded last weekend
0:55
So these are all connected at the deeper level. But pare all that away, and what you find is Russian maritime incompetence
1:03
In what way incompetence, Tom? They've panicked. To let a yacht doing six knots under sail get so close to you
1:13
that you now think it's a threat to you is just maritime incompetence
1:17
You're in a warship. You can do 30-plus knots. You know, if you're really worried, just get away from it
1:23
The yacht had right of way because it was under sail. there's reports of low visibility um but again that makes that that puts the onus on the warship
1:32
to have its engines ready for immediate maneuver so again a bit like uh the black sea in 2021
1:37
where they bombed hms uh defender you know it was panic it wasn't it wasn't sort of calm posture and
1:45
messaging it was it was unit level uh incompetence let's put you back in command of a warship in that
1:53
situation to use a motoring ogy, you'd have just ordered the pedal to the metal and just get out of there, just get out
1:58
of the ship's way and move on. I think I have looked at a family yacht through the binoculars and gone you know that fine So I just I don understand In fact initially when I first heard it breaking yesterday there were so many bits missing about the Russian warship behavior
2:14
that I did think there was something else going on, that this was a, you know, this was a strong arming or a messaging
2:20
But now I think it's a CO that's panicked. It's got an itchy trigger finger
2:24
Now, that could be caused by the wider situation. It could be direction from the Kremlin to be more robust, but I don't see it
2:33
I think it's unit level incompetence. And besides, if you fire a shot across the bow, you know, 60 to 70 percents of those bullets ricochet off the water and go a very long way
2:43
sometimes further than the range of the weapon. And you're doing that in the busiest shipping lane in the world
2:48
You know, you've got to have good reason to do that. And a yacht at six knots with a family on it is not a good reason
2:54
Paul's in Heathrow. Paul, what do you want to tell me? Good morning. Hi, good morning, Nick. Why's everybody making a big drama over this for
3:00
Because it's absolutely nothing. There's no way a great big battleship like that
3:06
would have used live rounds in the Channel or wherever that little yacht was
3:13
But aren't you surprised whether they used live rounds or not? What was the size of it
3:18
It's a giant ship from the Black Sea Fleet. What is it
3:22
a 409-foot friggin firing at a 40-foot yacht. That's called news, Paul
3:29
It didn't fire at it, Nick. It didn't. There's no way they would have done that
3:33
All they would have done was... But they did do it. No, all they would have done was fire blanks
3:39
Right. Like when they do the celebrations on the bank up at London
3:46
Paul, you're a couple aged 60 and 58, respectively, and a Russian warship starts opening fire
3:53
I don't think you're going to think, oh, there's nothing to worry about here. These are only blanks like a military parade
3:59
What does that matter? It matters not. Everybody's making a thing over it
4:03
And the way you look are all portraying it is if they're fired live rounds. They haven't
4:07
Well we don know if they live rounds in reality Well how many rounds was it Because nobody saying how many rounds that were fired at that I not sure that the number has been given
4:18
I'll quickly look. Exactly. Nobody's saying that. Nobody's turned around and said there was a splash and all of this
4:24
There's none of that. Sir, respectively, respectfully, I'm sorry, respectfully, this is news
4:30
And the fact that the editors of the Daily Mail, the iNewspaper
4:34
the Metro, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express, the Sun and the Times think it's a story
4:39
and I think it's a story, are you now persuaded? No. So what? So what? It's not live rounds
4:48
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The fact that you've got Russian warships firing at a retired couple in a yacht
4:56
that's what we call news, Paul. That's news. It's only because it gives you something to get all excited about
5:03
I understand that. I understand that. But at the end of the day, it wasn't live rounds
5:09
They were blanks. All right, I think we're going round in circles, which possibly the yacht was doing as well
5:14
You don't see it as a story. Respectfully on this occasion, Paul, I'm going to wholly disagree with you
5:18
which is why I point to all of the newspapers that's leading. I think possibly their editors and their news editors
5:24
maybe have a better sense of a story than perhaps you do. Hopefully I have as well, and I'm calling it news
5:29
You'll be aware that a Russian warship appears to have fired on a yacht that was being crewed by a couple on their retirement
5:36
it does, some suggest, bring into sharp relief a lack of defence spending
5:40
What does the government plan to do? It's not your fault that a Russian warship fires by the way on a yacht
5:44
but what does the government plan to do about defence spending? Can I just, before I come to that, just clarify what's happened
5:49
because in terms of the situation, which is just south of the Isle of Wight
5:53
because this would obviously have been a very, very frightening experience, Nick
5:57
for the couple on board the yacht. Now, our best assessment is that these were warning shots to avoid a collision
6:04
They were not attack shots, if I can put it that way. They were not seeking to attack the vessel
6:12
Still troubling though in a very busy channel a very busy waterway You firing rounds live or otherwise Other vessels are in the vicinity of course Of course of course and I think everybody was concerned as soon as they heard this news but we don think it is related to the seizing of the oil tanker the Russian oil tanker
6:28
from the Shadow Fleet that happened on the weekend. Secondly, HMS Mersey is currently shadowing, monitoring that vessel
6:37
I'm sure, Nick, we'd all be very grateful to the crew of HMS Mersey for that work that
6:40
they are currently doing. so I just want to clarify the facts as we've established them on that
6:46
incident. On your broader point then about defence spending the new defence secretary
6:51
is now finalising the defence investment plan just full clarity, I'm not
6:55
part of those discussions from the cabinet office and I won't tread into too much
6:59
speculation but it has to be published and will be published by the time of the NATO summit which is in
7:06
Turkey on the 7th or 8th of July and it's absolutely important obviously we get
7:12
that right. Alright. John is down by the sea in Brighton. John, your take on that. Good morning
7:18
Yeah, I mean, we're clearly this couple and this warship, we're clearly not getting the full story. There's
7:24
clearly something else going on here. What else do you think we need
7:28
to know, sir? Well, I mean, there are spirits sailors. You're not going to
7:34
miss a warship from miles. So there's clearly something. They're in fog. I mean
7:39
I don't want to speak ill of them, but they're an elderly couple, and they're in fog
7:43
I don't know, perhaps their vision might not be absolutely 20-20 at the moment
7:48
What is that? Well, I think there's something else going on here. But what do you think
7:52
I think if we talk about the intelligence services, MI5, MI6, they've been put up for something here, I think
8:02
There's something else going on here. Well, I mean, you might be right, but why would they use a couple in their
8:07
well, 170, 168? No, they're just an unthreatening couple. OK. I think it's just a convenient story, I mean, to test the Russian reaction
8:22
I think there's something else going on here
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