HMS Superb (S109): Whitehall We Have a Problem

What do you do with a nuclear submarine that can't submerge? n Tuesday HMS Superb (S109) hit a rock in the Red Sea. The BBC reported the story with these details.

HMS Superb hit an underwater rock on 26 May and damage to its sonar equipment forced it to surface.

No crew members were hurt and the submarine remains watertight, according to a Ministry of Defence spokesman.

He said the submarine's nuclear reactor was "completely unaffected", but a full investigation was under way to determine the cause of the collision.

The 272ft attack vessel had passed through the Suez Canal and was in the northern Red Sea, 80 miles south of Suez itself, when she hit an underwater rock pinnacle.

The good news is, everyone is OK. The bad news is the Royal Navy has a nuclear powered submarine in the Red Sea without a sonar that can't submerge and needs to make port for repairs. Where can you make port and repair a nuclear powered nuclear submarine in the Middle East?

Naval sources told the Herald that the closest friendly port to Superb's operational area is Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet. Other alternatives include berthing at the huge, US-run military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or, the least likely option, a long haul back to Gibraltar en route for Britain.

One submarine source said: "Bahrain is the obvious choice, although there might be security concerns in the Persian Gulf. Nuke boats are designed to operate unseen, not become tourist attractions. An attack boat on the surface would make a very tempting target for extremists."

The Herald story is actually about some comments from the MoD that this accident will almost certainly be used as a reason to retire the 32 year old submarine. With the damage already done, it is probably the right move, but that is the long term issue. The short term issue is where does the HMS Superb (S109) go right now?

The Royal Navy has ships in the region, and we imagine tasking orders have already been issued to send an escort to the submarine. HMS Westminster (F237) was originally an escort for HMS Illustrious (R06) for the Orion 08 deployment (which concludes today), but instead of returning home with the carrier, the frigate was sent to Myanmar as part of the Cyclone response. With the HMS Westminster (F237) almost certainly not going to be allowed to help in the cyclone disaster, we see the Type 23 frigate as the most likely warship to eventually become a full time escort home for HMS Superb (S109).

The photo above is HMS Superb (S109) making port in Gibraltar earlier this month. Looks to us that any significant damage almost certainly means retirement. If the submarine goes to Gibraltar for repairs, expect the Spanish Eco crowds to go ballistic.