Puppet Masters

British warship is out of action after CRASHING into another Royal Navy vessel, ship 'got stuck in reverse'

Mark Nichol
Daily Mail
Sat, 20 Jan 2024 07:50 UTC

Navy sources suggested there was no timeline yet for when the vessel can return to frontline duties

Since their warship is a minesweeper, the crew of HMS Bangor should be accustomed to loud bangs.

But the huge thud they heard in the waters off Bahrain on Thursday was another Royal Navy vessel crashing into theirs.

In a gaffe that could compromise UK operations in the Gulf at a crucial time, HMS Chiddingfold reversed into HMS Bangor, apparently after a mechanical failure.

The accident ripped a huge hole in the hull, which is constructed of glass reinforced plastic. There was internal damage but no injuries.

Comment: Footage:

Navy sources suggested there was no timeline yet for when the vessel can return to frontline duties.

One said: 'HMS Chiddingfold got stuck in reverse.

'The understanding at the moment is when she was attempting to go astern, there was a malfunction.

'The crew couldn't alter her course so they were forced to look on helplessly as she careered into HMS Bangor's rear quarter bow first.

'Her interior was ripped apart too. The ship won't be in action for a while.'

Footage of the collision was shared by military site Claims Bible and has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online.

The accident ripped a huge hole in the hull, which is constructed of glass reinforced plastic (pictured)

The ship plays an important role in ensuring the security of the UK and global trade routes. Pictured, damage aboard HMS Bangor after the crash

Bangor is one of the Royal Navy's seven Sandown-class mine counter-measures vessels.

Her standard crew of 39 includes mine warfare specialists and mine clearance divers.

Ordinarily she is based at the Clyde naval base in Faslane, Scotland, but she has been on long-term deployment to the Gulf.

According to the Ministry of Defence, Bangor is equipped with SeaFox unmanned underwater vehicles that trawl the ocean floor searching for mines.

The ship plays an important role in ensuring the security of the UK and global trade routes.

International shipping has been targeted by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, with around 30 cargo vessels and tankers being struck.

The attacks have continued despite UK and US air strikes on Houthi bases

Comment: This comes following the announcement: UK Royal Navy has so few soldiers it's forced to decommission ships so frigates won't go unmanned

And just 2 years ago: Symbolic: UK's largest warship HMS Prince of Wales breaks down ONE day after leaving Portsmouth for four month deployment to US

Reader Comments

ReRan · 2024-01-20T14:05:24Z

"HMS Chiddingfold got stuck in reverse."

What??? How does that happen?

Jamso · 2024-01-20T14:19:17Z

ReRan Ships being run on a shoestring with un-motivated crews and not enough money for proper maintenance.

Zbigniew · 2024-01-20T14:26:02Z

ReRan presently it may be just a little bug in its software…

Zbigniew · 2024-01-20T14:37:58Z

ReRan breaking news! Here's the audio recording of the last moments before it happened [Link]

ReRan ·

Zbigniew Love it!

· 2024-01-20T14:39:35Z

ReRan · 2024-01-20T14:40:03Z

Jamso Yeah, big lack of maintenance.

Suspect · 2024-01-20T14:47:13Z

ReRan I did some digging into the mechanical details of this ship. I found that the engines are electronically controlled, which would mean that the transmissions are equipped with shift solenoids that are somewhat prone to failure. BUT, there are also mechanical failsafes in place which means direct to engine mechanical shift, throttle and emergency engine shutdown cables which are much much more reliable and in place for situations when electronic controls fail. Definite operator error in my assessment whether the electronic controls failed or not, there where failsafes in place, including the emergency engine shut down option which any experienced captain knows to keep in mind when docking, just in case controls fail. Clearly seen in the video, the starboard engine was in reverse, evidenced by the "prop wash" even after the collision.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-01-20T15:03:24Z

Zbigniew - I knew it!

ReRan breaking news! Here's the audio recording of the last moments before it happened [Link]

Yes - yes - it was just they were in a yellow submarine and somebody forgot to turn the switch....

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-01-20T15:04:31Z

ReRan - in theory it ought be "impossible", but never underestimate human error.

Either that or maybe aliens ?

Gabriel · 2024-01-20T15:05:07Z

ReRan Normally, when in harbour, a ship's pilot would park the ship. In this case, it looks like there was no pilot on board. That means it would have been controlled by the senior navigator who would be qualified in this regard.

Looks like human error to me.

ReRan · 2024-01-20T17:25:04Z

Suspect Thanks for that info.

ReRan · 2024-01-20T17:25:34Z

Gabriel Human errors, plural.

Gabriel ·

ReRan Good point

· 2024-01-20T19:03:52Z

boli · 2024-01-20T19:42:13Z

ReRan ...and ... If it's stuck in reverse , how does it run bow-first into another ship?

If it's mission is so vital, how many mines has it been clearing over the last few months or weeks or whatever?

This is the same Navy that can't deploy its big Carrier because a tender can't field a full crew? What exactly can it do?

sbc · 2024-01-20T16:16:47Z

A warship with a fiberglass hull? ffs!!!!!

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-01-20T16:22:34Z

sbc - you would think it would be fiberglass-reinforced steel at least - assuming that exists!

- hmm....why not just add a bit of "concrete" as well for fuck sake - then a little mishap won't break through the effing ship....

how ridiculous the brits are...

HashAttack2 · 2024-01-20T16:37:43Z

Buffalo_Ken To save money for Ukraine, future UK ships are expected to be made of paper-mâché

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-01-20T16:49:17Z

HashAttack2

Those brits - so chincy..chintzy...cheap ass thieves are smug smarty pants - well now the evidence is in them mine sweepers are "out of service"..makes you wonder - why the hell pay taxes for that level of services.....

holy-shit - that is applicable where I live as well....

~

2024 - a year to remember...

Zbigniew · 2024-01-20T17:00:11Z

Buffalo_Ken [Link]

Buffalo_Ken ·

Zbigniew

· 2024-01-20T17:01:24Z

Gabriel · 2024-01-20T17:58:03Z

sbc The one thing that would make sense is that some sea mines have a magnetic trigger which detonate when it's breached. For this reason a fibeglass hull would have a low magnetic signature, which is good for mine hunting.

But don't get me wrong, there is no doubt whatsoever that the UK, and everyone else, cheaps out on costs at every turn. Even the US, with its monster military budget, cheaps out all the time.

Gator · 2024-01-20T18:02:59Z

sbc Thats what I thought, flimsy crap !!

tekdude · 2024-01-20T18:50:43Z

sbc My thoughts exactly!

boli · 2024-01-20T19:44:21Z

A warship with a fiberglass hull? ffs!!!!!

Not just regular fiberglass, my friend: reinforced fiberglass.

Zbigniew · 2024-01-20T20:05:26Z

boli I believe it's time to create a tank with armor made out of reinforced fiberglass. Ukraine needs such tanks.

tekdude · 2024-01-20T18:58:43Z

The sides of the battleship Massachusetts are 18 inches thick. World War Two... Solid steel.

Peter Jennings · 2024-01-20T19:18:01Z

Blighty's armed forces are supposed to be protecting its people and shores but it seems they are all out in the gulf trying to cause trouble and protect its ethnic cleansing mate in isreal. The new nato provocation on the Russian border will soon mean another 20,000 troops will be out of the country at the taxpayers expense. If things go badly, they won't be coming back.

Gabriel · 2024-01-20T19:41:25Z

Peter Jennings Fair point. Unfortunately, what's new?

boli · 2024-01-20T19:52:05Z

Peter Jennings Cue Richard Thompson. 'Dad's Gonna Kill Me [Link]
Out in the desert there's a soldier lying dead

Vultures pecking the eyes out of his head

Another day that could have been me there instead

Nobody loves me here...

HashAttack2 · 2024-01-21T14:15:32Z

Peter Jennings In the meantime we'll just have to hope that the French don't flood the Channel with mines

eulogical · 2024-01-21T02:51:29Z

For a country that is governed by a bunch of hardline neocons who don't have a 'reverse gear' it must have come as a huge shock to them to discover that their naval ships do in fact have a reverse gear and can go backwards if they want to..

This is a major disaster for them. How they will live it down internationally, I can't imagine. It might even cause the faster collapse of the Tory government that was doing so well collapsing by itself without any outside help.

I can only imagine that the crew of the ship had no experience of using the reverse gear, and had probably been forbidden by the Admiralty to use it under any circumstances, and some poor hapless crewmember is going to face a court martial for his/her/its(etc) mistake.

Lemuel Gulliver · 2024-01-22T06:52:13Z

This kind of thing has happened before: [Link]
I that case, a Norwegain frigate (with an all-woman crew, but that is not mentioned in the article,) collided with a Maltese tanker. It was determined the entire fault lay with the crew of the frigate. Shit happens.

Will add this QUÉBEC piece in here. Burocrats serve gov't ECONOMICS. A day later the anglo press uncovers & translates & covers (writes)...

LindaMay

It says a lot of our present batch of politicians when they cannot process simply information. Since the present batch of idiots lie so much...

Peter Jennings

What are you talking about Peter. That 'breeding' is non-stop REPEAT since the Lazy 80s (in our timeline!)

LindaMay

All the USadmin seem to do these days is warn others of what they will do. The Blinken idiot just got his ass kicked on his way out of China. So i...

Peter Jennings

The second hand car market will go nuts, so second hand cars over a certain age will very probably be banned some way or another. The NWO...

Peter Jennings

Puppet Masters

British warship is out of action after CRASHING into another Royal Navy vessel, ship 'got stuck in reverse'

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