UK nuclear sub is damaged in ship collision
A BRITISH nuclear submarine was damaged in a collision with a merchant vessel yesterday.
The submarine was off the coast of Gibraltar – where it is currently docked.
It is understood that it was being used as part of a training course for prospective commanding and executive officers.
It is believed to have been submerged at periscope depth at the time of the collision.
The Ministry of Defence said that while the HMS Ambush submarine had suffered external damage in the incident yesterday afternoon, the on-board nuclear plant was unaffected and the crew were unharmed.
An investigation is now taking place into the exact circumstances of the crash.
A spokesman for the MoD said: ‘The submarine suffered some external damage but there is absolutely no damage to her nuclear plant and no member of the ship’s company was injured in the incident.
‘We are in contact with the merchant vessel and initial indications are that it has not sustained damage.’
Gibraltar, a tiny peninsula off the south coast of Spain, has been a British territory since 1713 and is known to its 30,000 residents as ‘the Rock’.
It is a major point of contention in Anglo- Spanish relations, with Spain long claiming sovereignty over the enclave.
In 2010 a British nuclear submarine, the HMS Tireless, docked in Gibraltar for repairs for nearly a year after a crack was found in a cooling pipe near its nuclear reactor, sparking fears that it could leak and contaminate the environment. Residents of Gibraltar and southern Spain staged regular protests against HMS Tireless, and it has been the subject of a high-profile campaign by environmental group Greenpeace.
Spain’s prime minister at the time, Jose Maria Aznar, was criticised for not insisting that the submarine was moved back to Britain for repair. At 97 metres long and with a top speed of 30 knots, HMS Ambush is an astute class submarine, commissioned in 2013.
In theory, it never has to resurface thanks to its ability to purify water and air, although it can only carry a three-month supply of food.
It is armed with Spearfish anti-submarine torpedoes and tomahawk cruise missiles, which can hit targets more than 1,000 miles away.
It is not the first time that a British nuclear submarine has been involved in a collision.
In 2009, HMS Vanguard collided at low speed with the French navy’s Le Triomphant in the Atlantic Ocean, while both were submerged.