(Updated below 12.15, 23rd October 2010) What a day it’s been. The Ministry of Defence is looking at an unexpected hole in its budget (if not in the pride of its submarine fleet) with repairs of an as yet unknown nature and cost to be done to HMS Astute.
The Royal Navy’s newest and most advanced hunter-killer nuclear powered submarine, not yet in service, has spent the day sitting on a shingle bank in the Kyle of Loch Alsh, aground since around 8.00am today, 22nd October 2010. She is said to have been – wait for it – testing her sonar before she ran aground. That’s a fail then.
There is another story doing the rounds – that she grounded while crew were being recovered from a shore trip.
She was towed off (at around 18:00) – after some drama with a breaking towline – and is said to be making for deeper water under her own power. She will lie there overnight and a hull inspection will be carried out in the morning, where the mode of return to her base at Faslane in Argyll – independently or under tow, will be assessed. Rudder damage is very much in the frame and, if this proves the case, it will be an expensive repair.
She’s been lying yards off the Skye Bridge all day, offering a grandstand view of her embarrassment to the assembled hordes – whom we achingly envy.
What is it about Skye and nuclear submarines? Back in November 2002 HMS Trafalgar hit a reef three miles off the north west of Skye, at 15 knots, causing several million poundsworth of damage. She was in the charge of a trainee on a selection exercise for promotion to commander. It emerged later that the cause of the collision – although technically human error by the navigators, was down to parsimony.
The MoD had decreed that such exercises should use tracing paper laid over the relatively – expensive marine charts. OK. This would already make visibility of the delicate contour lines less than perfect. But it was school grade tracing paper – so think cheap, thick and opaque. And how on earth does the cost of a chart stack up against the cost of a nuclear submarine?
Where Astute is nuclear powered but not nuclear armed, Trafalgar is the full monty. How many times can we realistically get lucky with these accidents?
Astute is said to have run aground out of the safe sea area and in one marked clearly as shallow on the Admiralty chart for the area. Her steering is evidently not manual but automatically controlled. We can only hope this system does not prove to be the marine equivalent of the fatally flawed FADEC system that is the most probable cause of the awful end of the Chinook Mk 2 on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.
There was expert concern during the day while Astute lay stranded as to how sea water would be supplied to cool the reactor that powers her. Water could be seen pouring down from behind a hull overhang astern of the conning tower, which is where the reactor camber is located. This would suggest that the crew, trained to be highly resourceful, had found a way of circulating seawater to cool the reactor.
It was noticeable that, during her towing off at around 18.00 tonight, ten hours after her grounding, she was venting steam heavily and consistently.
Repairing Astute is likely to involve the ship lift that was installed at Faslane for the purpose of lifting her. This will be a nervy business, with errors during crane lifts the single most likely cause of a nuclear accident.
Faslane and Astute were together the very recent centre of just such an accident. On Friday 3rd September a crane dropped a ramp onto Astute during loading for the sea trials she has since been in the process of conducting.
Thinking back to the MoD’s budgetary problems and to the ‘optimism bias’ Argyll now knows must be added to estimated project costs, it seems (im)pertinent to wonder aloud if the MoD should be including a pessimism bias in its annual operating budget.
Tireless, Triumph, Victorious, Trafalgar, Superb, Trenchant and now Astute have collided with the submarine topography in various parts of the world – Superb ending her career prematurely after hitting an underwater pinnacle in the Red Sea.
Then HMS Vanguard, one of the current fleet of Trident missile submarine suffered a night time underwater collision with the French nuclear submarine, Le Triomphant, in the Atlantic on the 3rd-4th February 2009.
And talking of budgets, the final irony in today’s maritime adventure is that Anglian Sovereign, the coastguard tug that came down from Stornoway to assist Astute and towed her off, is one of the four Coastguard tugs axed in the Strategic Defence Review.
Note: Astute is the first of her class and therefore traditionally lends her name to it. Her sister ship, HMS Artful, is set to be adopted by Southampton, ironically the home town of Commander Andy Coles, the skipper of Astute in the current incident and now likely to face a court martial, as the responsible officer at the time.
Update: 12.15 23rd October 2010: We understand that Astute will stay where she is in a deep water location off the coast of Skye while Navy divers check her hull and rudder for any damage before she returns to her base at Faslane.
It was Anglian Prince assisting HMS Astute today.
Anglian Sovereign is up in the Shetlands – they take turns to operate in each area.
http://forum.shipais.com/index.php?showtopic=11210&st=0
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For Lundavra: Thank you for this. We’ll leave the correction here with you.
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The “steam” venting from the submarine “heavily and consistently” would very likely be the exhaust from the submarine’s backup diesel generators – which would be consistent with the reactor being shut down.
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For ic451: Thank you for this information. In your view, does this mean that Astute will proceed to Faslane under diesel generators? Do you see this apparent use of backup generators as an indication os a problem with the reactor? Are there specific requirements that attend the shutting down (and starting up)of a reactor?
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Submarines “High and Dry” would appear to be consistent with Aircraft Carriers without Aircraft and a Nimrod procurement order so far out of date that it is cancelled regardless of cost – far better not to mention the Chinooks!
What happens next time round when the nearest rescue tugs are so much further away?
John Farquhar Munro, MSP, suggested somewhat drily that whatever the sophisticated technology on board Astute ” any cailleach in Kyleakin could have told you that the boat was on the wrong side of the buoy”
For heaven’s sake promote the man!
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Glad all crew onboard ASTUTE are well! Wishing you a speedy return to the River Clyde and her trials.
River Clyde Tug – Svitzer’s tug Ayton Cross on arrival at HMS ASTUTE last night accepted the tow after the tow between the coastguard tug and ASTUTE was released. As a harbour/coastal tug with ASD propulsion and numerous towage configurations the Ayton Cross is better suited for maintaining ASTUTE’s current position. Ayton Cross arrived from Glensanda super quarry where she was berthing the bulk carrier Tenki Maru. Ayton Cross has history with ASTUTE as she shadowed the submarine on her 1st week of sea trials after departing from Barrow-in-Furness.
ASTUTE will remain in her current location for a couple of days at present. Once all interested parties have inspected ASTUTE and are happy with her condition, a decision will be made whether she proceeds under her own power or is towed back to the Clyde. No matter what is decided she will have a considerable tug escort back to the River Clyde/Faslane.
An excellent response by the Svitzer’s tug Ayton Cross and continues to show the flexibilities of the 3 Svitzer tugs and crew who are permanently based on the River Clyde.
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For Local River Worker 2: thanks for this information. We’ve watched – and photographed – Ayton Cross perform a wide range of tows and manoeuvres with the Maersk ships when they were in and out of Loch Striven and she’s fabulous to watch in action.
They obviously switch off their transponders when they’re on naval duty because she’s not shown up at all on Ship AIS.
We have been watching the Delta Marine tug, Voe Chief (http://www.delta-marine.co.uk/voe_chief.html), which is visible on Ship AIS, coming down through the traffic separation zone off Neist Point on north west Skye then turning east and now doing 5.8 knots on 137SE. There is nothing visible in town on AIS but she’s been doing a fairly steady speed from 5.2 – 5.8 knots – which would be slow for a tug on a solo passage.
Could she be towing Astute? If she were and if this speed were an average maintained, she wojld have cover of darkness on passage past points where she would most easily be seen, including the final approach up the Clyde and into the Gare Loch to Faslane.
But has she the poke and is she the right kind of tug for this job?
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Anglian Prince is at anchor in Loch Ewe. Is this where they’ve taken Astute? It would make sense.
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ASTUTE is not currently being towed.
There is a blind spot on AIS for this area (coincidence or not?).
The Voe Chief is a useful little tug, she is twin screw and rated at 35 tonnes BP (not sure of her current destination) not the most suitable available tug for towing ASTUTE if necessary. There are numerous vessels (most unsuitable for towing ASTUTE) in the vicinity currently that were mobilised due to the initial incident to ensure all eventualities were covered.
The Ayton Cross and 2 Clyde based Serco tugs (SD Dextrous/SD Nimble) on location are the most suitable tugs and familiar vessels available for towing/escorting ASTUTE for her return passage to the Clyde. This depends on ASTUTE’s condition, she may make her own way with tugs only escorting rather than towing.
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For local river worker 2: Thanks again. Guess this makes Loch Ewe her most likely anchorage just now. If her rudder’s damaged, it’ll be a tow?
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ASTUTE remained on a buoy yesterday/overnight at Broadford Bay for inspection and is currently returning to the Clyde under her own power with 3 tugs escorting (Svitzer’s Ayton Cross (Harbour/Coastal ASD tug), Toisa Daring (anchor handler/supply vessel) & Kestrel (Emergency Towing Vessel)) and 1 military ship (probably a minesweeper that was in the area of Kyle of Lochalsh yesterday). ASTUTE’s ETA on the Clyde is afternoon tomorrow.
Why are Serco not involved as the primary towage company to the MoD when they had vessels on scene?
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For Local River Worker 2: Thanks for this information and for the interesting question on Serco. Why not indeed?
The tug convoy can be seen on Ship AIS (http://www.shipais.com/showship.php?refresh=2&count=4&map=-1&mmsi=235000031).
They’re just through the traffic separation zone off Neist PoInt on the west coast of Skye – doing an average of 10 knots due south – on around 185S.
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Pingback: Argyll News: Update on HMS Astute: on way back to Faslane :Argyll,HMS Astute,on passage,Faslane, | For Argyll
Update 8.26 25th October 2010: The Astute convoy cleared the traffic separation zone south west of the Mil of Kintyre at 6.00 and is now moving eastwards across the entrance to Kilbrannan sound, midway between the Mull and the south end of Arran.
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