No crew members were hurt and the submarine remains watertight, according to a Ministry of Defence spokesman. Posted on 05/27/2008 2:24:56 PM PDT by SmithL
A British nuclear-powered submarine has been damaged after it hit rocks in the Red Sea, defence officials say.
HMS Superb hit an underwater rock on 26 May and damage to its sonar equipment forced it to surface.
No crew members were hurt and the submarine remains watertight, according to a Ministry of Defence spokesman.
He said the submarine's nuclear reactor was "completely unaffected", but a full investigation was under way to determine the cause of the collision.
The 272ft attack vessel had passed through the Suez Canal and was in the northern Red Sea, 80 miles south of Suez itself, when she hit an underwater rock pinnacle.
'No casualties'
There were 112 crew on board, but no other vessel was involved.
The MoD said: "There were no casualties and the submarine remains watertight, is safe on the surface and able to operate under her own power."
There was also "no environmental impact" from the collision, he added.
The Navy is now trying to work out how to return the vessel to port.
It is currently in international waters, but is unable to dive because of the damage to its sonar equipment.
HMS Superb was first launched in 1976. Most recently she has been deployed to Afghanistan to provide support for troops there.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
They were more fortunate than the crew of the USS San Francisco.
If the Brits are like the US, this sub captain just suffered a career-ending bump.
“HMS Superb hit an underwater rock”
As opposed to?
Just think how much trouble the skipper would be in had the rock been on dry land.
An airborne rock?
; <)
A sand berm?
As opposed to?
An above-water rock.
That's really, REALLY bad. ;-)
Nah.
Right. I'm sure an urchin or starfish or anemone or sea cucumber was killed.
Sub sailors are not known as bubbleheads for nothing.
I was in a submarine (SSN Atlanta) that did something similar in 1986. It was the same time the Soviet reactor blew up so out story was pushed way off the headlines
Wow, what a sub! since Afghanistan is a landlocked country. Before that maybe it was commanded by Obama and helped liberate Auschwitz.
Whoops.
I was just about to ping everyone to a duplicate thread...
That's also possible
HMS Superb was first launched in 1976. Most recently she has been deployed to Afghanistan to provide support for troops there.
So whats your point? What about the US supply convoy that mutinied and refused to go to work? Well, thats cowardice.
Why dont you Yanks like us? Why is it that no matter what we do, you view us in the worst possible light? Why is it that you take a single example and paste it to a whole nation? If thats how its done, then are all Yanks yellow bellied cowards who dont like getting in harms way? you cant have it both ways, so yeah, it looks like, according to your logic, Yanks are cowards. You said it, not me.
A US Navy convoy? I severly doubt it. Point is, the Royal Navy let it’s people be captured on the high seas and then groveled before their captors. Sixty years ago, HMS whatever would have blown those Iranian gunboats out of the water.
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