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| British Nuclear Submarine HMS Victorious Burns Up |
London - One of the British Navy's Vanguard-class nuclear submarines was forced to abort a "secret mission" after sustaining fire damage. The news was revealed in an article on Sunday (6/11/2022) published by The Sun. According to him, it took the efforts of the entire 130-plus crew, including many off-duty, to extinguish the electrical fire aboard the submarine HMS Victorious.
At the time of the incident, the submarine was carrying the Trident 2 nuclear ICBM. Although the fire was reported to have been extinguished relatively quickly, an emergency declared by the captain of the ship forced the ship to surface at an undisclosed location in the North Atlantic to emit toxic fumes.
One Navy source reportedly explained to The Sun that, “Every member of the Royal Navy who sails at sea is a qualified firefighter.” This ensures British warships and submarines can quickly respond to the incident without affecting operational results.
However, the damage caused by the fire prompted the submarine's captain to abort an unspecified "high secret mission" and order the ship back to base at HMNB Clyde in Faslane, Scotland. The Sun noted the 30-year-old submarine, which cost more than $3 billion to build, is one of the Royal Navy's four non-stop nuclear deterrence patrols.
A Royal Navy spokesman told the paper that the incident did not affect the deterrent at sea which was continuously operating. However, the source declined to provide further details about the operation of the nuclear submarine.