An unhappy submarine

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, April 11, 2011 - 11:03 AM Share

A sailor on the HMS Astute, the Royal Navy's newest submarine, opened fire with an automatic weapon in the sub's control room on Friday, killing its weapons engineering officer and wounding a second sailor. A fast-thinking local politician who was present for a tour wrestled the gunman to the deck and pushed away the weapon.  

Awhile back the sub's skipper was relieved after the boat ran aground off Scotland. Reminds me of the losing streak the USS Greenville had a few years ago.

Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:BRITAIN, MILITARY
 

GRANT

5:09 PM ET

April 11, 2011

I really have no experience

I really have no experience about the standards on submarines of any kind so please forgive me if this is a foolish question. Exactly how did the person in question get access to a firearm on a submarine? Given the nature of submarines I would have thought that they wouldn't see any need to make firearms easily available.

 

TOM RICKS

5:25 PM ET

April 11, 2011

In port

I believe the submarine was in port and so had sentries on duty.
Best,
Tom

 

JPWREL

5:55 PM ET

April 11, 2011

A more comprehensive

A more comprehensive description of what happened on HMS Astute can be found here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8441494/HMS-Astute-shooting-submarine-murder-accused-desperate-to-leave-ship.html

And for details on the characteristics of HMS Astute here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8438499/HMS-Astute-Royal-Navy-submarines-vital-statistics.html

 

RVN SF VET

7:41 PM ET

April 11, 2011

Reggie Moondogg

Oh yeah, one of the guys in my crew changes his name to Reggie Moondogg and says he is unhappy and leave and I'm gonna feel sanguine keeping him aboard my nuclear sub. It was my understanding that submariners in the USN were psychologically screened. Doesn't HRM do likewise?

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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