Navy nuclear submarine ‘moments’ from disaster

A ROYAL Navy nuclear submarine and its crew were moments from being crushed after its depth gauge failed, it was claimed yesterday.

The Vanguard class sub, carrying 140 crew and Trident 2 missiles, reportedly suffered the malfunction on patrol in the Atlantic. Depth indicators on the vessel, which operates at a maximum of 500m beneath the surface, stopped working – leading the crew to falsely believe the sub was level when in fact it was diving deeper.

But engineers found a second gauge indicating they were headed towards the ‘danger zone’ and raised the alarm.

‘The sub wasn’t supposed to be there, and it was still diving,’ a source told The Sun. ‘And if it had carried on going, it doesn’t really bear thinking about.’