Colliding with any vessel is bad.
Colliding at depth just plain sucks.
BRITISH and French nuclear submarines which collided deep under the Atlantic could have sunk or released deadly radioactivity, it emerged last night.
The Royal Navy’s HMS Vanguard and the French Navy’s Le Triomphant are both nuclear powered and were carrying nuke missiles.
Other than the slightly sensational lead-in, how significant is this? Well any time two ships collide is bad. When you are deep and can’t see outside, it can be sheer terror…or you might not even notice. This is not the first time two submarines of different countries have hit each other, and it probably won’t be the last. It is the first submarine accident in some time, so perhaps that is why it made the headlines over the last day or so.
Don’t believe me? If you Google “submarine collisions” you get 148,000 hits. Lots of info out there…
BR Bullnav,
Who are the French deterring strategically?
The Germans!
Well, there goes the Big Ocean Theory™….
***sigh***
BR Neal, that is a great question. Strategically, who might be an enemy of France in the 21st century? One that they would want to target MIRV’d warheads at? Or perhaps they do it because they can.