Written by: Press Trust of India
2 min readLondonFeb 17, 2009 12:08 AM IST
First published on: Feb 17, 2009 at 12:08 AM IST
In a first-ever such accident,a British and a French nuclear submarines,both carrying nuke warheads,collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month,but there was no loss of life.
HMS Vanguard,a Royal Navys Trident class,and French Navys new Le Triomphant class submarines were both damaged in the incident,but there were no reports of casualties or damages to the nuclear reactor or weapons,the Sun reported on Monday.
The British submarine has now been towed to Faslane in Scotland for repair.
Both vessels between them carrying about 250 sailors were reportedly submerged and on separate missions when they crashed on February 3 or 4.
The British Defence Ministry refused to comment on submarine operations but a spokesman said: We can confirm that the UKs deterrent capability has remained unaffected at all times and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety.
However,a British official confirmed the report,saying nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided deep under the Atlantic Ocean while on separate exercises earlier this month.
HMS Vanguard is one of four nuclear submarines operated by the British military as part of its Trident system,and one is always on deterrent patrol. Each vessel is 150 metres long and 13 metres in diameter,and can carry up to 48 nuclear warheads.
The potential consequences are unthinkable. Its unlikely there would have been a nuclear explosion, a senior Royal Navy source said. But a radioactive leak was a possibility. Worse,we could have lost the crew and warheads.
As inquiries began,naval sources said it was a millions-to-one unlucky chance both subs were in the same patch of sea. Warships have sonar gear,which locates submarines by sound waves. But modern anti-sonar technology is so good it is possible neither boat saw the other.
The lines between London and Paris have been hot, a senior military source said.
The MoD insisted on Sunday night there had been no nuclear security breach. But this is the biggest embarrassment to the Navy since Iran captured 15 sailors in 2007.
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