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kwame k
02-16-2009, 10:04 AM
LONDON – Nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, authorities acknowledged Monday — touching off new concerns about the safety of the world's deep sea missile fleets.

The HMS Vanguard, the oldest of Britain's current nuclear-armed submarine fleet, and the French Le Triomphant submarine, which was also carrying nuclear missiles, both suffered minor damage in the collision. No crew members were reported injured.

Britain's most senior sailor, First Sea Lord, Adm. Jonathon Band, said the underwater crash posed no risk to the safety of the submarines' nuclear reactors and nuclear missiles. But he offered no explanation of how the rare incident might have occurred.

"The two submarines came into contact at very low speed," Band said in a statement. "Both submarines remained safe."

France's defense ministry said the ballistic missile submarines had been carrying out routine patrols when they collided.

"They briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged. There were no injuries. Neither their nuclear deterrence missions nor their safety were affected," France's defense ministry said Monday in a statement.

The Vanguard — which is capable of carrying up to 16 nuclear-armed Trident missiles — was towed back to a submarine base in Scotland with visible dents and scrapes, the BBC reported.

The Le Triomphant suffered damaged to a sonar dome in the front of the submarine but returned under its own power to its base on L'Ile Longue on France's western tip, according to the French military.

Neither France nor Britain would confirm the exact date of the collision, but said it took place earlier this month. France issued a brief statement Feb. 6 saying the Le Triomphant had struck "a submerged object" that was probably a shipping container.

Naval experts were amazed by the collision.

"This really shouldn't have happened at all," said Stephen Saunders, a retired British Royal Navy commodore and the editor of Jane's Fighting Ships. "It's a very serious incident, and I find it quite extraordinary."

He said while NATO countries let each other know what general area of the Atlantic they are operating in, neither submarine would have had a precise position for the other.

Saunders said submarines don't always turn on their radar systems or make their presence obvious to other shipping.

"The whole point is to go and hide in a big chunk of ocean and not be found. They tend to go around very slowly and not make much noise," he said.

Lawmakers and disarmament advocates demanded an explanation of how the submarines could have failed to detect each other.

Britain's government "needs to explain how it is possible for a submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction to collide with another submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction in the middle of the world's second-largest ocean," lawmaker Angus Robertson of the opposition Scottish National Party said.

Stephane Lhomme, a spokesman for the French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire, said its activists were on alert for any signs of radioactive leaks near French shores.

"This reminds us that we could have a new catastrophe with a nuclear submarine at any moment. It is a risk that exists during missions but also in port," he said. "These are mobile nuclear reactors."

Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to end his country's nuclear submarine patrols of the Atlantic.

"This is a nuclear nightmare of the highest order," said Kate Hudson, the group's chair. "The collision of two submarines, both with nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons onboard, could have released vast amounts of radiation and scattered scores of nuclear warheads across the seabed."

___

Associated Press Writers Jennifer Quinn in London and Jamey Keaten and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this story.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090216/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_sub_collision)

kwame k
02-16-2009, 10:13 AM
Granted, this is a much ado about nothing, thread..........when I was reading this, all I could think about was, this would make a great Monty Python skit.......

I know less than a fuck about Subs......other than two nuclear equipped subs having a fender bender, doesn't seem like a good idea.......

chefcraig
02-16-2009, 11:38 AM
For some reason, I immediately thought of those old Reeses Cups commercials. You'd have some uppercrust British commander saying "I say old man, you've gotten chocolate upon my peanut butter", to which some French deckswab in a red and white striped shirt would mutter "No, no! You (petulant swine) got peanuts butter on my shoc-o-lade".

Of course, this would ultimately degenerate into the scene from Holy Grail...

King Arthur: What are you then?
French Soldier: I'm French. Why do think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king.
Sir Galahad: What are you doing in England?
French Soldier: Mind your own business. You don't frighten us, English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person. I blow my nose on you, so-called Arthur-king, you and your silly English kiniggets.

French Soldier: I don't want to talk to you, no more, you empty-headed animal, food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. You mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Seshmeister
02-16-2009, 11:46 AM
The French will insist on driving on the wrong side...

kwame k
02-16-2009, 01:00 PM
For some reason, I immediately thought of those old Reeses Cups commercials. You'd have some uppercrust British commander saying "I say old man, you've gotten chocolate upon my peanut butter", to which some French deckswab in a red and white striped shirt would mutter "No, no! You (petulant swine) got peanuts butter on my shoc-o-lade".

Of course, this would ultimately degenerate into the scene from Holy Grail...

King Arthur: What are you then?
French Soldier: I'm French. Why do think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king.
Sir Galahad: What are you doing in England?
French Soldier: Mind your own business. You don't frighten us, English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person. I blow my nose on you, so-called Arthur-king, you and your silly English kiniggets.

French Soldier: I don't want to talk to you, no more, you empty-headed animal, food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. You mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Fucking classic, Craig.

WACF
02-16-2009, 01:21 PM
http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1891620088

Read this book a few years back.

With the technology these days with being silent and blocking sonar...this really is not all that surprising.

More surprising considering how big the ocean is...unless they were monitoring a sub route in and out of port.

Lawmakers and disarmament advocates demanded an explanation of how the submarines could have failed to detect each other.

This really is a stupid thing to say...the whole point of these submarines is to be undetectable.