WalKnDude: Nuclear Submarine Collision:

Friday, February 20, 2009

By Maggie M. Thorton

A nuclear submarine collision between two subs armed to capacity with nuclear warheads is creating controversy among groups advocating for nuclear disarmament. See more photos and videos below.

Le Triomphant and HMS Vanguard Nuclear Submarines (Photos)

The British HMS Vanguard and the French Le Triomphant, both carrying nuclear weapons of mass destruction, were badly damaged in a collision earlier this month, but sources say nuclear security aboard the vessels was not breached or compromised.

The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is calling for all of Her Majesty’s Trident submarines to be pulled from duty immediately.

This highlights the danger of keeping nuclear submarines at sea when there is no threat to Britain. Trident is a danger to us all and does nothing to improve our security. At the very least these vessels should immediately be confined to base. The Government’s plan to spend billions on new Trident submarines should be scrapped.

Trident submarines are those armed with Trident nuclear warheads. The U.S. Navy has approximately 18 Trident subs known as Ohio class submarines. The Ohio class submarines are considered America’s strongest deterrent force, patrolling both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

On February 19th, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and top Navy officials honored the USS Wyoming, a Trident sub celebrating the completion of its 1000th patrol.

Major Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff lauded the crew of the USS Wyoming, saying the Ohio class subs are:

… the most capable and most credible deterrent that this nation has to offer … They deserve our eternal gratefulness as a nation.”

There is considerable worldwide concern after the recent historic collision of the Vanguard and the Le Triomphant. Here’s some background on the collision:

British officials said there “was a millions-to-one unlucky chance” that both subs were in the same place in the vast Atlantic ocean, at the same time,” but a British nuclear engineer, John Large, said it is not at all unusual for submarines from other countries to share the same watery domain:

Both navies want quiet areas, deep areas, roughly the same distance from their home ports. So you find these station grounds have got quite a few submarines, not only French and Royal Navy but also from Russia and the United States.

The Royal United Services Institute spokesperson’s statement said the Vanguard and the Triomphant were “the strategic Crown Jewels of a nation:

The whole purpose of a sea-based nuclear deterrent is to hide somewhere far out of sight and out of mind….

The fact that they couldn’t hear each other is actually less surprising…the modus operandi of most submarines, and particularly ballistic missile submarines, is to operate stealthily and to proceed undetected.

This means operating passively (ie not transmitting on sonar and making as little noise as possible.

The advance of anti-sonar technology is being blamed for the two super-subs not being aware that they were sharing the same cozy spot in the mid-Atlantic. The anti-sonar capabilities apparently over-rode their sonar’s ability to detect each other.

Between the two submarines, carrying approximately 250 sailors, each had the maximum 16 ballistic missiles onboard. The Vanguard and the Le Triomphant are considered the mightiest of all classes of subs. Designed to inflict the ultimate, disastrous consequences on an enemy, if necessary, a British navy spokesman said “crashing a nuclear submarine is as serious as it gets.”

According to the BBC, another British official has a sobering assessment of what could have happened:

The potential consequences are unthinkable. It’s very unlikely there would have been a nuclear explosion.

But a radioactive leak was a possibility. Worse, we could have lost the crew and warheads. That would have been a national disaster.

Outside of the fact that two nuclear subs collided - a “first” in naval history, officials apparently tried to cover-up the incident. The BBC says that the British navy reported the Vanguard hitting an “immersed object, probably a container,” and said nothing about the Triomphant being involved. The eventual explanation was was “they briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged,”

Here are the stats on the Vanguard and the Triomphant:

The British Vanguard, a V-Class ballistic missile sub is armed with 16 ballistic missiles, is 149.9 meters long (491.8 feet), 15,980 tons displacement, and is manned by a crew of 14 officers and 121 enlisted sailors. Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h) (28.6 mph)

The French Le Triomphant ballistic missile sub is armed with 16 nuclear missiles, is 138 meters long (452.8 feet), 12,640 tons displacement, and is manned by a crew of 15 officers and 96 sailors. Speed: Over 25 knots (46 km/h) (28.6 mph).