British Nuclear Sub Is Freed After 10 Hours
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: October 22, 2010
LONDON ? The Royal Navy hastened to assemble an official inquiry Friday evening to explore why Britain?s newest nuclear submarine, H.M.S. Astute, ran aground while undergoing sea trials off the coast of northwest Scotland on Friday morning and remained stuck on a bank of sand and shingle for nearly 10 hours before a tug pulled it free at nightfall. A spokesman for the Royal Navy said divers would be deployed to check concerns that the submarine?s rudder had been damaged.
Related
*
The Lede Blog: British ?Stealth? Submarine Gets Stuck in Mud (October 22, 2010)
The episode was particularly embarrassing for the navy because the vessel, one of the most technologically advanced submarines in the world, is designed for maximum stealth and use in such delicate operations as delivering special forces troops secretly and eavesdropping off the coasts of hostile nations. Its design features and propulsion mechanisms are considered top secret, naval experts said, but both were on display during the grounding.
Earlier efforts by tugboats to free the $2 billion vessel failed, prompting officials to wait until the evening tide to refloat it. Their decision left the 8,000-ton submarine, as long as a football field and equipped to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, sitting motionless in full view of people on the shoreline throughout the day.
Local residents quoted by the BBC said the submarine appeared to be tilting slightly as it sat about a mile off the coast of the Isle of Skye, close to the bridge that links the island to the Scottish mainland at the Kyle of Lochalsh, 150 miles northwest of Glasgow.
Defense Ministry officials said there had been ?no nuclear incident? and no sign the hull had been breached. They said they hoped to have the Astute towed back to its home port at the Faslane naval base on the river Clyde, west of Glasgow, after the divers had checked the extent of damage.
The mishap, one of several affecting British nuclear submarines in the past decade, was particularly ill-timed for the Royal Navy, which has spent recent months fighting to limit the impact of a government drive to make deep cuts in Britain?s military spending. The 8 percent across-the-board cut in the country?s defense budget that was announced on Wednesday included deep reductions in the number of navy ships, though not in submarines.
This is just an epic FAIL for the captain and crew of a $2 BILLION dollar nuclear vessel
