HMS Vanguard and Triomphant submarine collision
Encyclopedia
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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
in the night between 3–4 February 2009. Both are nuclear-powered
Nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
ballistic missile submarine
Ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...
s. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard (S28)
The eleventh HMS Vanguard of the Royal Navy is the lead boat of her class of Trident ballistic missile-armed submarines. The submarine is based at HMNB Clyde, Faslane....
and the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
's Le Triomphant both sustained damage, but no injuries or radiation leaks were reported. At the time of the collision, both vessels were submerged and, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, moving "at very low speed"; both are equipped with active and passive sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
, although only the latter is used on an operational patrol.
Submarines
HMS Vanguard was on a routine patrol in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean with a crew of 135, and was armed with a maximum of 16 Trident 2 D5 ballistic missilesUGM-133 Trident II
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service....
carrying up to 48 warheads in total. Triomphant was returning from a tour of duty when the incident occurred; it was carrying a crew of 111, and was equipped with 16 M45 ballistic missiles with up to 48 warheads in total.
Collision
On the night between 3–4 February 2009, the two submarines collided in the Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. On 6 February 2009, the French Ministry of Defence reported that Triomphant "collided with an immersed object (probably a container)" The UK Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
initially would not comment that the incident took place. On 16 February 2009, the incident was confirmed by First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
Sir Jonathon Band
Jonathon Band
Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, GCB, DL, ADC , from 2006 to 2009, was the First Sea Lord of the United Kingdom, the most senior serving officer in the Royal Navy. Before serving as First Sea Lord he was Commander-in-Chief Fleet...
, in response to a question at an unrelated event. Band said that the collision occurred at low speed, and that there had been no injuries. The French Ministry of Defence also stated that a collision "at a very low speed" had occurred, with no casualties.
Both vessels were damaged. Vanguard received damage to the outer casing in the area of the missile compartment on the starboard (right) side. Triomphant was initially said to have received damage to the active sonar dome under her bow, indicating that Triomphant ran into Vanguard from above and amidship, but was later reported as having received impacts to three parts of her structure, with her conning tower and the starboard sail plane attached to the conning tower visibly deformed by the incident. According to the Daily Telegraph, the cost of repairing the damage to both boats was expected to amount to up to £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
50 million. Both vessels returned to home bases under their own power, Vanguard to HMNB Clyde
HMNB Clyde
Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy...
(Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde) in the Firth of Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
, on 14 February 2009 and Triomphant to Île Longue
Île Longue
Île Longue is a peninsula of the roadstead of Brest. It is the base of the SNLE, the French ballistic missile submarines, and as such one of the most secretive and heavily defended places in France.-Geography:...
in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, escorted by a frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
as a normal procedure, although it is unclear whether this was an unplanned return following the incident.
Possible cause
Media reports have discussed two possible aspects contributing to the incident; geographic separation of the submarine operating areas (known as waterspace management), and the ability of each submarine to detect the other using acousticAcoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
methods.
While the use of active sonar may have revealed the position of one submarine to the other, it is unlikely either boat was operating its active sonar at the time of the collision. Ballistic missile submarines are designed to conceal themselves while on patrol, and the use of active sonar would immediately reveal the boat's position. Several media outlets stated that because both submarines are equipped with modern anechoic tile
Anechoic tile
Anechoic tiles are rubber or synthetic polymer tiles containing thousands of tiny voids, applied to the outer hulls of military ships and submarines, as well as anechoic chambers...
coverings over their hulls and were travelling at low speed, it would have been unlikely for either submarine to have detected the presence of the other while using only their passive sonar systems. Further, as reported by Time magazine, submarines take advantage of environmental characteristics, such as ocean currents of varying temperatures (thermocline
Thermocline
A thermocline is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid , in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below...
s) or varying salinity (halocline
Halocline
In oceanography, a halocline is a subtype of chemocline caused by a strong, vertical salinity gradient within a body of water. Because salinity affects the density of seawater, it can play a role in its vertical stratification...
s), to avoid detection.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has speculated that though highly improbable considering the vastness of the areas in which they operate, the actual areas used by ballistic missile submarines(SSBN) are in reality limited, and overlap (alleged to often be between Malin Head
Malin Head
Malin Head , on the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, is usually given as the most northerly headland of the mainland of Ireland . In fact, the most northerly point is actually a headland named Banba's Crown on the Inishowen Peninsula about 2 km to the northeast...
and Rockall Bank). They have claimed that the use of these areas by submarines of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, French
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
and Russian navies has increased the risk of accidental collision.
Several media outlets have referred to comments by retired Royal Navy Commodore Stephen Saunders, editor of the Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc...
, where he described the incident as "very serious" and said it was time for France and Britain to coordinate their submarine operations more actively, suggesting that the use of operating areas is not communicated between operators of SSBNs; France, the UK and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or that communication procedures were not effective. "I would have thought it possible to at least arrange to be in different parts of the ocean without compromising operational security," said Saunders. "No doubt there are a number of technical issues to be investigated, but the root of the problem appears to be procedural." This position appears to be corroborated by Admiral Sandy Woodward, a former commander of the Royal Navy's submarine force. In a commentary article for The Independent newspaper, he said that whilst it is not known whether the UK and France exchange information now, it was not the case when he served as Flag Officer Submarines in 1984. He recalls that his French counterpart proposed that London and Paris share information on SSBN patrols, precisely to avoid an incident at sea, but no agreement was reached at the time on achieving that.
Aftermath
With the delayed acknowledgement of the accident, both the British and French ministries of defence have been accused of attempting a cover-upCover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
of the collision. The delay in reporting the accident has also been criticised in the international press. There has been no official explanation for the event. British MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Nick Harvey
Nick Harvey
Nicholas Barton "Nick" Harvey is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for North Devon and the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.-Early life and education:...
has demanded an official inquiry into the issue. Kate Hudson, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
, said, "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". However, Band said that there "was no compromise to nuclear safety".
Hervé Morin
Hervé Morin
Hervé Morin is a French politician, leader of the New Center party and a former French Minister of Defence.-Member of National Assembly:...
, France's Minister of Defence
Minister of Defence (France)
The Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs is the French government cabinet member charged with running the military of France....
, said that they "face an extremely simple technological problem, which is that these submarines are not detectable".