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The captain of HMS Defender has warned the Kremlin he will do whatever is required to protect the 240 crew serving on his ship.
Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Commander Vincent Owen strongly criticised Russian forces for threatening him and the men and women under his command.
On Wednesday, a Russian patrol vessel fired repetitive thudding bursts from its 30mm cannon near the British destroyer moments after Cdr Owen ignored their orders to steer away from Crimean waters.
The dramatic incident witnessed first-hand by the Mail plunged UK-Russia relations to their lowest point since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.
Cdr Owen, 42, accelerated to overtake the Russian border vessels and continued his course through Crimean territorial waters. It was then the bursts of cannon fire were heard on her port side. It followed a series of radio messages that a gunnery exercise was occurring in the area.
Cdr Owen said: 'I have always got the inherent right of self-defence, to defend the men and women aboard the ship.
'It is part of my orders delegated to me by the commanding officer of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG).
'Clearly, they [the Russians] threatened me [on Wednesday]. They said they'd fired if we did it [enter Crimean waters]. They said they were staging gun exercises.
'They then fired from one of their coastguard ships. On this occasion, I was comfortable I was acting within that delegated authority. I knew the range of their weapon systems aboard the border patrol vessels and maintained the necessary speed to remain at
