April

Shooting on board

A seaman of the Royal Navy has been killed during a shooting incident on board a nuclear submarine berthed at the British port of Southampton. According to officials another seaman has been wounded severely. MoD UK stated that a third member of the RN on board has been arrested after the incident. So far, no further knowledge has been gained about the background of the event. Submarine HMS Astute paid a routine visit to Southampton for five days. During the port call visits by boy scouts and pupils were planned.

The nuclear submarine, which can navigate around the globe without surfacing once, did run aground a sandbank nearby the Scottish Isle of Skye during sea trials in October last year. Commissioned August last year HMS Astute is considered being the pride of the RN. After she was freed by tug assistance she later on collided with one of the tugs.

Astute has a displacement of some 7,800 t submerged and a length of about 100 m, she can fire conventional “Spearfish”-torpedoes and “Tomahawk” cruise missile up to 2,000 km range. The submarine is currently the biggest and latest of its kind for the British Armed Forces. Its propulsion system is nuclear, but there are no nuclear weapon on board.

Source:

• n-tv on 08.04.2011