November 20th 2023.
The Vanguard Class sub of the Royal Navy was equipped with Trident nuclear missiles, carrying 140 crew members in the Atlantic when an unexpected malfunction occurred. A source told The Sun, ‘It’s not the engineers’ job to control the sub’s depth but they saw how deep they were and realised something was wrong. Technically the sub was still at a depth where it could operate, but the whole crew was piped to action-stations which had not happened. ‘The sub wasn’t supposed to be there, and it was still diving. And if it had carried on going, it doesn’t really bear thinking about.’
The incident caused panic on board, however, the engineers managed to stop the submarine and its nuclear reactor from plunging at the last moment. It is thought the depth indicators stopped working, so its crew falsely believed the sub was level when it was actually diving deeper into the ocean. But, engineers later found a second gauge indicating they were headed towards the ‘danger zone’.
The Royal Navy has four Vanguard Class submarines – HMS Vanguard, Vengeance, Victorious and Vigilant – although it is unknown which one was involved. Two of the vessels are currently out of operation, as one is being refitted and another is undergoing sea trials.
Trident is the UK’s nuclear weapons system, consisting of four nuclear submarines, at least one of which is on patrol in the seas at all times. Each vessel carries up to 12 missiles on board, with each missile carrying up to four nuclear warheads on the top – a maximum total of 48. Each bomb is around eight times as destructive as the Hiroshima bomb which killed more than 140,000 people in 1945. The government is currently in the process of upgrading the submarines as the current vessels will begin to come out of service from 2032.
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: ‘Our submarines continue to meet their commitments, deploying globally on operations, protecting national interests, and keeping us and our allies safe. While we do not comment on specific details regarding submarine operations, safety of our personnel is always the highest priority.’ The Navy’s new nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought – set to enter service in the early 2030s – was spotted being moved along streets in Cumbria a few weeks ago.
The incident has since led to an investigation being launched. The Royal Navy is confident that their submarines will continue to meet their commitments and keep their personnel safe at all times. These high standards will be especially important as they upgrade their submarines and take the new HMS Dreadnought out of service in the early 2030s.
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