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Royal Navy submarine and Stena ferry 'came within 100m of colliding'

The two vessels came within 50 to 100 metres of each other - PA
The two vessels came within 50 to 100 metres of each other - PA

The third near miss in four years between a Royal Navy submarine and a civilian vessel has sparked “significant concern” from investigators.

A report into the incident between a submerged submarine and a Stena ferry, says that without the “great presence of mind” of a crew member on the civilian craft, there was a significant chance of a collision.

The near miss, on November 6, 2018, occurred in the busy waterway between Belfast and Cairnryan.

The Officer of the Watch on the Stena Superfast VII was forced to take action to avoid collision with the submerged submarine that had been spotted at close range ahead of the ferry.

As the ferry turned hard to port the submarine maintained its course and passed across the Stena Superfast VII’s bows. It was photographed close to the starboard side of the ferry.

The report says the two vessels could have been within 100m of each other as the ferry, which had 282 passengers and crew on board, took the avoiding action.

Although aware of the ferry, the submarine’s control room team had overestimated the civilian craft’s range and underestimated its speed.

The report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said the submarine’s commanding officer and its officer of the watch made safety-critical decisions that ”might have appeared rational to them at the time” but were actually based on inaccurate information.

The report cited two previous collisions between Royal Navy submarines and surface vessels in recent years. In all three incidents key decisions on board the submarines were made based on “an insufficient appreciation of the location of surface ships in the vicinity” the report said.

The Stena Superfast VII ferry was just over 200m long and weighed 30,285 tons. Given a closing speed of around 27 knots between the two vessels there was every chance that the ferry would have suffered significant underwater damage had a collision occurred.

It is not known if the Royal Navy vessel was an Astute or Trafalgar Class hunter killer boat, or one of the four Vanguard Class nuclear-armed deterrent submarines. There were no nuclear safety issues during the near miss.

The report said there is no expectation that the bridge team of a merchant ship should be able to detect or avoid a submerged submarine. The investigation board said it was “extremely fortunate” that Stena Superfast VII’s lookout spotted the submarine’s periscope.

The Telegraph understands the Royal Navy has accepted in full the recommendations of the report. A thorough safety investigation in 2018 identified the necessary actions to prevent a re-occurrence and these have now been enacted by the Navy and explained to the MAIB.

Administrative action was taken against at least one member of the submarine’s crew rather than disciplinary proceedings. The MoD said it would be “inappropriate to comment any further on individual cases”.

The incident is the third in four years involving Royal Navy submarines and civilian vessels.

On 15 April 15, 2015, a submarine was deep in the Irish Sea when it snagged the fishing vessel Karen’s trawl wires. Karen was dragged backwards at about seven knots and partially submerged before the trawl wires snapped.

On 20 July 20, 2016 the Royal Navy attack submarine, HMS Ambush, collided with the merchant vessel Andreas near Gibraltar.

The Astute-class nuclear submarine, HMS Ambush at it's mooring in Gibraltar, March 2016 - EFE
The Astute-class nuclear submarine, HMS Ambush at it's mooring in Gibraltar, March 2016 - EFE

HMS Ambush was at periscope depth and conducting tactical training exercises at the time. A subsequent investigation found the crew were not maintaining a continuous all-round look to reduce the risk of detection in a simulated threat environment.

The report stated the key common factor between the latest incident and two previous collisions involving submerged Royal Navy submarines was the absence of a sufficiently accurate plot of surface shipping, a critical factor to ensure sound decision-making.

A Royal Navy Spokesperson said: “Ensuring safety at sea is a top priority for the Royal Navy, which is why we welcome this report and have already taken action to tighten our training and procedures.”