British, French nuclear subs crash in Atlantic

[Marla_Singer]

LONDON (AFP) — A British and a French submarine, both of them nuclear-powered and carrying nuclear weapons, collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, the Sun newspaper reported on Monday.

The tabloid said HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant were both damaged in the incident, but there were no reports of damage to the nuclear parts. The British sub 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 Ministry of Defence refuses to comment on submarine operations but a spokesman said: "We can confirm that the UK's deterrent capability has remained unaffected at all times and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety."

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 on a maximum of 16 missiles.

. . . .

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

With all respect to the crew, I find this rather amusing.

What happened to the French sub?

 

[RedRalph]

Thats weird, I would have expected winner to post this


Dosent seem to be any real danger, however its incredible they can hit eachother when they have the entire atlantic to miss eachother in

 

[Lillefix]

Crashing in the middle of the Atlantic. That takes skill.

 

[bhsup]

What happened to the French sub?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090216/ts_afp/britainfrancenuclearweapons

Le Triomphant, one of France's four nuclear-armed submarines, hit the object -- said at the time to be probably a container -- while submerging, and immediately returned to base at Ile-Longue, near Brest in northwest France.


"The sonar dome situated in the front was damaged," said a statement from the navy, adding that the incident "did not result in injuries among the crew and did not jeopardise nuclear security at any moment."

 

[Elta]

Sonar failing on both ships ......

My ass.

They are both super stealth ships!!!

Right???

I mean they are billion dollar ships, no?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Sonar failing on both ships ......

My ass.

They are both super stealth ships!!!

Right???

I mean they are billion dollar ships, no?

Indeed. Something so expensive can't go wrong.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Hey, one poor pilot flew two prototype jet fighters that both suffered instrumental failure.
He retired after the second crash.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I wonder which is less likely; Two satellites colliding in space or two submarines colliding in the ocean.

 

[Elta]

Indeed. Something so expensive can't go wrong.

Yeah!

It just went too right!!!

I wonder which is less likely; Two satellites colliding in space or two submarines colliding in the ocean.

Two subs in the ocean are less likely by far.

The U.S. has the 1,000 of satellites and well under 100 submarines.

I imagine it is similar every where else.

 

[Godwynn]

What happened to the French sub?

It immediately raised a white flag.

I wonder which is less likely; Two satellites colliding in space or two submarines colliding in the ocean.

Very suspicious!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Two subs in the ocean are less likely by far.

The U.S. has the 1,000 of satellites and well under 100 submarines.

I imagine it is similar every where else.

How much cubic feet of ocean versus cubic feet of space?

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Two subs in the ocean are less likely by far.

The U.S. has the 1,000 of satellites and well under 100 submarines.

I imagine it is similar every where else.

Yes but orbital space is I am sure a much larger volume.

 

[Elta]

How much cubic feet of ocean versus cubic feet of space?

47,251,024,100,000,000,000 square feet of ocean water
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleoceans.html
The average depth of the ocean is 3.7 kilometers

A vast majority of satellites are in geocentric orbit

2,000 - 30,000 km above earth.


Even though there is a vast difference in numbers, there are so few submarines and so many satellites coupled with the fact that these submarines are under constant human specialist control. These factors make me believe it is much less likely for two submarines two collide in the ocean.

Not to mention solar wind and other space factors being much more damaging than waves are two submarines.

 

[Longus]

Yet another reason why Britain should conform with the rest of Europe and adopt left-hand drive... they were probably heading in the wrong direction down an international sea-lane.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

47,251,024,100,000,000,000 square feet of ocean water
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleoceans.html
The average depth of the ocean is 3.7 kilometers

A vast majority of satellites are in geocentric orbit

2,000 - 30,000 km above earth.


Even though there is a vast difference in numbers, there are so few submarines and so many satellites coupled with the fact that these submarines are under constant human specialist control. These factors make me believe it is much less likely for two submarines two collide in the ocean.

Not to mention solar wind and other space factors being much more damaging than waves are two submarines.

But submarines are also not distributed evenly across the ocean. They mostly travel along sea lanes if they're not on some mission.

 

[Elta]

But submarines are also not distributed evenly across the ocean. They mostly travel along sea lanes if they're not on some mission.

Ah, yes key point.


Nothing to add really, key point.

 

[plarq]

Further proof that both countries should give up nukes, it's pointless and no one to get par with, except for the centuries old traditional Anglo-French rivalry.

 

[West 36]

How phallic.

 

[J-man]

I wonder how that sounded. Maybe one sub was spying on the other and came so close it collided.