HMS Astute shooting: inside the submarine

Two Royal Navy personnel were shot in the incident, one of whom has now died. A third Royal Navy serviceman has been arrested.

Details of the shooting remain sketchy, as the Ministry of Defence attempts to contact the families of those involved.

An MOD spokesman said: “This incident was not terrorist-related and there is no threat to the wider public.”

If you have got someone brooding over something on a fully armed nuclear-powered submarine, that’s a real issue. Nuclear submarine expert John Large

But, aside from the human tragedy, the incident could be another setback for the Royal Navy’s newest, and yet seemingly cursed, hunter killer submarine, the HMS Astute – the first of six Astute class attack submarines commissioned by the MoD to replace the Trafalgar class subs.

The nuclear-powered submarine ran aground in November last year, potentially causing millions of pounds’ worth of damage. The Commander of the vessel, Andy Coles, was relieved of his command as a result of the incident off the coast of Skye.

The HMS Astute has also suffered problems with various technologies on board the ship, including an incident with its toilets, submarine expert John Large told Channel 4 News.

“She’s had a poor history,” he said.

Artist’s impression of the inner workings of the HMS Astute released by manufactuer BAE Systems when it was launched in 2007

Risks

And he said the problems for the submarine may not be over. If the bullets hit any part of the ship, that could potentially be very serious.

“The innards of a submarine are a labyrinth of pipework,” he said. But he said there would be no risk to the nuclear power on the ship.

“It wouldn’t get in the nuclear reactor, there’s an enormous bulkhead between,” he told Channel 4 News. He said the reactor was also likely to have been closed down as a precaution following the incident.

“There are two problems, one is if you are in a munitions area, that’s clearly a risk. It’s also a risk if the bullet penetrated one of the oxygen tanks, and there are hundreds on these things.

“The other problem is the malicious intent. If you have got someone brooding over something on a fully armed nuclear-powered submarine, that’s a real issue. It is a very serious and sad incident to shoot a colleague, but in a way it is fortunate that we have not had an act of sabotage on the sub itself.”