Another nuclear submarine crash off the west coast of Scotland
embe | 07.11.2002 17:47 | Anti-militarism | Ecology
Scotland’s bungling submariners have done it again! In 2000 HMS Triumph ran aground in sand off the west coast. The Navy assured us that this was a freak accident and would never happen again. This time it's HMS Trafalgar which hit a rock in shallow water south-west of Skye on Wednesday morning.
Perhaps the submariners are in some kind of competition with their surface ship counterparts. Earlier this year HMS Nottingham, a destroyer, also crashed into a rock, this time off the coast of Australia. The Nottingham nearly sank after a 160ft hole was torn in its side.
It would it be quite amusing watching various Admirals squirm as they explain the latest crash, but for the fact that these subs are loaded with nuclear missiles and powered by mini nuclear power stations. Even a "minor leak" would have devastating consequences for people and nature in Scotland.
It has not been explained why the "naval exercises" required the sub to come so close inshore. These subs were designed to sit in deep water where they couldn't be detected, so even if the UK had been annihilated they could still annihilate the USSR.
The Navy claims that the nuclear reactor and missiles weren't damaged this time and the Trafalgar scurried back to base at Faslane for repairs. However, the Navy's immediate reassurances should be treated with a high degree of caution. When another nuclear submarine, HMS Tireless, went to port in Gibraltar two years ago, it took a long campaign before the Navy admitted that it had a reactor fault. In the end, all 12 of the Navy's nuclear submarines had to be taken out of service to make sure they didn’t have similar problems.
Back in the 1960s Ralph Nader wrote "Unsafe at any speed", a brilliant expose of the blatant disregard for safety among US car manufacturers. It's time we recognised that these nuclear submarines are unsafe at any depth!
For more details of the campaign against Scotland's nuclear submarine bases visit
http://www.faslanepeacecamp.org/
For more details of anti nuclear and anti-war campaigning in Scotland visit CND Scotland http://www.banthebomb.org/
Perhaps the submariners are in some kind of competition with their surface ship counterparts. Earlier this year HMS Nottingham, a destroyer, also crashed into a rock, this time off the coast of Australia. The Nottingham nearly sank after a 160ft hole was torn in its side.
It would it be quite amusing watching various Admirals squirm as they explain the latest crash, but for the fact that these subs are loaded with nuclear missiles and powered by mini nuclear power stations. Even a "minor leak" would have devastating consequences for people and nature in Scotland.
It has not been explained why the "naval exercises" required the sub to come so close inshore. These subs were designed to sit in deep water where they couldn't be detected, so even if the UK had been annihilated they could still annihilate the USSR.
The Navy claims that the nuclear reactor and missiles weren't damaged this time and the Trafalgar scurried back to base at Faslane for repairs. However, the Navy's immediate reassurances should be treated with a high degree of caution. When another nuclear submarine, HMS Tireless, went to port in Gibraltar two years ago, it took a long campaign before the Navy admitted that it had a reactor fault. In the end, all 12 of the Navy's nuclear submarines had to be taken out of service to make sure they didn’t have similar problems.
Back in the 1960s Ralph Nader wrote "Unsafe at any speed", a brilliant expose of the blatant disregard for safety among US car manufacturers. It's time we recognised that these nuclear submarines are unsafe at any depth!
For more details of the campaign against Scotland's nuclear submarine bases visit
http://www.faslanepeacecamp.org/ For more details of anti nuclear and anti-war campaigning in Scotland visit CND Scotland
http://www.banthebomb.org/
embe
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