Free app is showing the location of HMS Queen Elizabeth
She is Britain’s state-of-the-art £3.1 billion aircraft carrier which Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has promised to protect from ‘envious’ Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And when The Mail on Sunday asked the Ministry of Defence for details of HMS Queen Elizabeth’s course during her sea trials, security-conscious naval chiefs would confirm only that she was somewhere in the North Sea.
Yet all any Kremlin spy or ship-spotter needs to do to keep track of the 65,000-ton vessel is download one of the mobile phone apps which are showing her every move.
The free apps, Vessel Finder and Marine Traffic, plot her progress by the minute â€" making a mockery of Sir Michael’s pledge to protect the carrier from Russian intelligence-gatherers .
The Defence Secretary told the BBC last week: ‘It’s routine for the Russians to collect intelligence on our ships. We will take every precaution to make sure that they don’t get too close, but I think they will be admiring her.’
He added that the Royal Navy has ‘ways and means’ of stopping the Russians from finding out about HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The Kremlin hit back by describing the carrier, nicknamed Big Lizzie, as a ‘convenient target’.
Last night, a spokesman for Bulgaria-based company Astra Paging, which owns Vessel Finder, said the carrier was broadcasting revealing information every few seconds.
The Russian embassy mocked Sir Michael Fallon (pictured) after he claimed Russians 'will look at this ship with a little bit of envy'
He said: ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth is sending out automatic identification system [AIS] data which is then forwarded to our sensors. Most military ships do the same thing. We will continue to show HMS Queen Elizabeth’s position for as long as we are able to.
‘Maybe the Royal Navy will decide to switch off her AIS? It is a decision for them, not us.’
According to Navy sources, top brass are relaxed about shipping website subscribers tracking their pride and joy. They are concentrating on the battle beneath the waves to prevent the Russians recording HMS Queen Elizabeth’s electronic and acoustic signatures.
The Mail on Sunday understands that as part of the information war, a Brit ish nuclear submarine has been sent to the North Sea to harass Russian submarines trying to get close to the huge carrier. A naval source said: ‘The Russians want to track the radio frequencies she uses and also listen to the noises she makes underwater, which would reveal her presence to an enemy submarine.
There were reports that Putin's agents would be collecting intelligence on the flagship as it undergoes sea trials
‘Being such a huge vessel, her turbines and diesel engines make a lot of noise. A Royal Navy submarine can make this intelligence-gathering more difficult for the Russians while also recording these signatures for its own purposes.’
HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy, set sail from Rosyth last week to start her sea trials.
Sir Michael told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth is an enduring example of British imagination, ingenuity and invention that will help keep us safe for decades to come. For the next 50 years she will deploy around the world, demonstrating British power and our commitment to confronting the emerging challenges from a dangerous world.’  Â
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