Astute & SSNs latest news

A stricken British nuclear submarine was adrift in the Red Sea last night with 112 crewmen trapped aboard.

HMS Superb was submerged on a training exercise when it ran head-on into rocks, seriously damaging its sonar equipment. A source revealed the terrified crew thought they had hit the ocean bed. He said: “The vessel was at such a depth that when it hit, those on board thought they had hit the bottom of the ocean. There would have been a significant impact but the emergency procedures were quickly put into place.

The Clyde-based nuclear attack submarine which collided with an underwater rock in the Red Sea on Monday could be scrapped if damage to her sonar is judged to be too expensive to repair, according to Whitehall sources.

HMS Superb, known to her crews as 'Super B', has been in service for almost 32 years. She is the oldest attack boat in the Royal Navy and one of only two Swiftsure-class submarines still operational.