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A Royal Navy nuclear sub carrying 140 crew members and Trident 2 missiles narrowly escaped disaster when it began sinking towards its crush depth in the Atlantic Ocean.
The submarine's depth gauge failed, which indicates how far below the surface they are, causing the vessel to unknowingly continue diving towards the sea floor. Engineers on board noticed a second dial indicating the dangerous descent and quickly raised the alarm.
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 we know it can operate, but if it ever has to go that deep the whole crew is piped to action-stations.
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"That hadn't 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 submarine and the depths involved have not been disclosed due to security reasons. However, the fact that a disaster was averted shows that the safety systems on the Vanguard-class vessel are working well.
The Navy's top brass has launched an urgent safety investigation, but insiders say the close call didn't disrupt the UK's nuclear deterrent. Since 1969, at least one Royal Navy submarine has always been patrolling the world's waters, ready to retaliate if a catastrophic attack is launched against the UK or its interests.
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Currently, the UK has four Vanguard-class submarines, with only two operational as one is under renovation and the other undergoing sea trials. The latter recently had repairs that went £300million over budget.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy stated: "We do not comment on operations. Our submarines continue to be deployed globally, protecting national interests."
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]
- Royal Navy
- Missiles
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