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THE CREW OF a UK Royal Navy submarine placed the lives of an Irish Sea fishing trawler in danger when it dragged the boat after snagging its nets.
The submarine dragged fishing vessel the Karen at 7 knots for about 30 seconds on the afternoon of 15 April 2015 but did not realise what had happened until about three hours later.
The Karen is a Danish-made wooden fishing vessel that registered in Northern Ireland.
An investigation by the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has found that the crew of the submarine did not follow proper guidelines that were developed following previous incidents with fishing boats.
The incident happened when the Karen had reached its intended fishing grounds after sailing from Ardglass in Northern Ireland.
The crew had already landed two catches of the day when the nets were deployed underwater for the third time.
The investigation found that, when the collision occurred, Karen’s crew heard an unusual noise and realised something was wrong as the trawl warps had unexpectedly tightened and the vessel started to be dragged backwards.
The incident continued for about 30 seconds during which time the vessel became partly submerged under the pull of the submarine. The crew began preparing a life raft before the warp parted and the vessel was released.
The Karen was significantly damaged by the incident but the engine had not flooded and it was possible to return to Ardglass.
In 1990, four crew members died when a Royal Navy submarine sunk the Antares fishing boat of the Scottish coast. A code of practice was induced following that incident but this latest MAIB report concluded that “lessons learnt after the Antares accident have been lost”.
Investigators were also critical of the Royal Navy for ‘not fully engaging’ with the investigation.
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All the initial articles blamed a ‘Russian submarine’ for this even though it was more likely, and has turned out to be,a Royal Navy one. Nothing like whipping up a bit of a story though.
So they were trying to Cod us? That’s the Bass tards
Must of being sole destroying.
Oh come on, I’ve haddock up to here with fish puns.
Ah lads, get off your perch. There a plaice and time.
“In 1990, four crew members died when a Royal Navy submarine sunk the Antares fishing boat of the Scottish coast.”
They only introduced a code of practice after they had killed a few of their own citizens.
Nine years earlier, during the Falklands/Malvinas war, a Royal Navy submarine snagged the nets of an Irish trawler, which was pulled under. Fortunately, the crew of four or five survived, and the submarine did nothing to see if assistance was required.
Indeed, it took years for the Brits to admit that the incident had even taken place.
@Fintan Oflaois: I think i remember an interview on BBC2 with skipper where the skipper was asked if he was sure it was a submarine that dragged his boat backwards…his reply was priceless “well it was hardly a fooking bus!!!”
It generally takes a death rather than a near death to change policy
@Fintan Oflaois: indeed Fintan, and just one of many, many examples of the extreme intransigence and obduracy the Brits are capable of.
@ Fintan I wouldn’t be inclined to take your word for it because you don’t seem to like the ‘Brits’.
@Can’t Think of One: I don’t give a rat’s arse whether or not you are inclined to believe me or not, so why do you bother to tell me?
A sensible person would have just googled the incident and discovered the reported facts for himself.
‘Malvinas’ War? What the hell was that? No such place exists.
It must be like catching your coat on the side of a bus while cycling. Scary!
There is a video going around from a few days ago of a Spanish trawler almost smashing into an Irish trawler.There was no one in the wheel house until last minute.Very near miss.I think it was on Irish Independent or Times.
Trawlermen are an endangered species already thanks to Europe. I hope they have Netfix.
Pollocks !
The sounds fishey
Trawlers could be out fitted with a sound generator that can be recognised by the sensitive microphones on those submarines. It would need to be proven as safe to use with noise sensitive sea life such as cetaceans.
These submarines have computers that can identify particular vessels and their name just by the noises they give off. This is just a case of not giving a fishing vessel enough room.
At the time the UK tried to make out that it was a Russian sub, why was that??????
Ide say the crew of the karen are having a whale of a time
The hunter became the hunted
have your say