British Nuclear Submarine Catches Fire, Aborts Top ‘Secret Mission’

A £3billion submarine of the Royal Navy equipped with nuclear missiles aborted a super undercover operation when a fire broke out on the vessel.

The HMS Victorious is one of the four Trident submarines of Britain that had been sailing to a base overseas when an electrical fire broke out about six weeks back.

The blaze that destroyed an electrical converter was extinguished before the 30-year-old vessel returned to Scotland for necessary repair work. A naval source informed that almost 130 sailors were on board the ship then, but luckily no one suffered any injuries.

A spokesman of the Royal Navy did not want to comment regarding the details but mentioned that the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent remains unaffected.

The crew members wore their hazmat suits as heavy smoke poured out from an electrical conversion system. Even the ones who were off-duty at that time were reportedly summoned. A naval source added that the fire impaired an AC to DC electrical converter. The incident is severe. However, no one was injured, and no severe damages were brought to the submarine.

The members of the crew are expert firefighters. This helps ensure that the submarines and ships can respond to incidents efficiently and promptly, ensuring that operational outputs remain unaffected.

The 30-year-old vessel — long overdue for a significant refit — broke the surface in the north Atlantic to flush out the fumes. The 16,000-tonne sub is one of the four that offers round-the-clock nuclear deterrent patrols. However, it was understood that it wasn’t in that role then.

References: Daily Hunt

British Nuclear Submarine Catches Fire, Aborts Top ‘Secret Mission’ appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News