French, British SSBN's collide

[Perseus]

An extraordinary story! The HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant, both SSBN's, collided while submerged. Both London and Paris are so far not commenting on the matter, as is usual when missile subs are involved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/16/nuclear-submarines-collide

(Warning: the Guardian's writer obviously has no clue about submarines and how they work.)

The way I see it, only two possibilities.

1. It was a true, real, almost unbelievable accident: Two of the world's quietest submarines just happened to be at the same place, at the same time, and at the same depth.

2. One of the two skippers thought he was actually driving an SSN, not an SSBN, and stared playing a game that ended in disaster.

[DanFraser]

Thankfully as it appears the incident did not suffer any casualties or worse.

WTF!!??

HOW!??

[RSColonel_131st]

I commented on another board that maybe both skippers thought they were being shadowed by an SSN and instead of diving away, tried to find out who was trailing them.

Does that sound plausible? I know SSBNs are supposed to be undetected and stay away from everyone, but in rather peacefull times, they might prefer to identify any potential hunters rather than run away from them?

[Perseus]

Negative, Sir

SSBNs are NOT allowed to join a game of hide-and-seek. Never. Ever.

If and when an SSBN-skipper finds out that there's an SSN lurking in the area, he goes silent, and he goes deep. He does not pull an Ivan to check who is behind him.

Even getting discovered is considered a grave incident, usually with dire consequences for the SSBN's skipper.

SSBNs are considered the most prized strategic assets the world powers have. Bombers may be shot down and missiles destroyed in their silos, but submarines must remain safe. Their security is not allowed to be compromised.

[bottomcrawler]

Maybe they're too quiet?

Ah yes, I hear now that the British have assigned a crew member to ring the ship's bell at regular intervals to alert other nearby subs, should they come too close. The exact interval remains classified, as it's a matter of national security...
:D

[OneToughHerring]

I wonder how strong the hull is in these subs? If they collided head on, would it rupture the hull and possibly sink them both? Or if the other sub would hit the the side of the other sub in a 90 deg angle full speed?

[motsivad]

I wonder how strong the hull is in these subs? If they collided head on, would it rupture the hull and possibly sink them both? Or if the other sub would hit the the side of the other sub in a 90 deg angle full speed?

I think it was more of a prang. The British newspapers like to embellish as it makes a good story.

[Frame57]

I doubt that one or both of these Skippers were driving the boats like they were fast attacks unless they were very stupid. If an American CO of a SSBN gets detected, he will no longer be the CO of a boat. Unless the circusmstances were unavoidable like having to snorkel or surface due to some casualty.