COURAGEOUS

FIRST ANCHOR PROBLEM PLYMOUTH SOUND 1974 QHM invited us to anchor in Plymouth Sound which we duly did. Unfortunately, when the time

came to weigh anchor the anchor windlass was found to be inoperable and the back-afties were required to cut the cable as a joining shackle was not close by. So the cable was parted and the anchor stayed on the bottom in the Sound, to be recovered later. We were taken up harbour with a tug on each side and a howling gale coming up through the gap, we had to let one of the tugs go as she was getting damaged and taking in water. However after much nail biting we got around Devils Point and up the Hamoaze to berth alongside, thankfully. Gavin Lane Lt (Navigator)

THE CAPTAINS VIEW

On completion of the DED at Devonport we left the dockyard and were negotiating the Narrows around Devils Point when the MEO reported a problem with the shaft. We reached the Sound and it was reported that the shaft had seized. Bad news in a single shafted ship. We spent the night steaming slowly outside the Breakwater on the eggbeater. It eventually appeared that the wrong line-up had been put on the shaft brake and that we had been attempting to turn the shaft through the brake. It eventually transpired that the laid down operating procedure was incorrect. All this meant a considerable delay to the programme, as we had to return to the Dockyard. Having anchored in the Sound to await tugs, when we started to weigh anchor the capstan hydraulics burst, with the anchor still on the bottom. With time and tide pressing, there was no option but to buoy the anchor and cut the cable. It took a little time to persuade the Dockyard that a docking was not required and that all that was needed was to recover the anchor and several shackles of cable and rejoin the cable once the capstan had been repaired. More lessons learnt about things that can go wrong. Andy Buchanan C.O

SECOND ANCHOR PROBLEM ON THE RANGE AT LOCH FYNE 1979

1 January – 1 March 1979. A period dominated by niggling defects. This period culminated in a static noise range trial at the Loch Fyne noise range off Inveraray. The submarine was secured to 4 large -buoys - one off each quarter – by large cables. Shore supply was connected allowing the reactor to be shut down. The submarine then conducted a static dive ‘suspended’ by the cables secured to the buoys – although as the boat was pretty well neutrally buoyant, there was little weight on the cables which were primarily used to keep the boat in position.

This arrangement allowed nearly all the machinery in the submarine to be switched off (as the

reactor was shut down) and restarted in turn to allow the hydrophones on the range to detect the noise signature of individual pieces of machinery.

On the third day of the trial, whilst conducting pre critical reactor checks, a steam leak was

detected in the reactor compartment. The choice was to return to Faslane before the leak worsened, or cool down and attempt a repair at Loch Fyne. About half of the ship’s company had been given leave (many had returned to Faslane to their family homes) and recalling them was no easy matter. However, the decision was made to ‘flash’ the reactor and return to Faslane as soon as possible in order to shut down and conduct the repair with full support facilities when alongside.

By mid afternoon, the submarine was ready for sea, but with many of the ships company still

ashore. The submarine was slipped from its restraining cables and ‘Slow ahead’ was ordered to move out of the buoy pattern. As the order was given, the anchor (which was ready for letting go on the brake) suddenly ran out with all of the cable (8 shackles – 720 feet). The anchor immediately snagged on the noise range cables on the seabed and could not be recovered despite strenuous efforts. The only solution was to jettison the anchor and all of the cable. This was done just as darkness was falling and so the

submarine proceeded to Faslane in darkness with RMAS Spaniel in support as the nuclear safety tug. Lt Tony Masters conducted Blind Pilotage in the heavy rain that further reduced visibility. As the submarine transited the narrowest part of the Loch in pouring rain and visibility of about 1000 yds in darkness, a course change was required. The wheel over was ordered. Unfortunately, the helmsman maintained the rudder angle, as his gyro tape did not change – even though the submarine was turning. This was because the 400Hz re-transmission unit that fed his gyro repeat had stuck (it had not ‘recovered’ properly from being shut down for the noise trial). The effect was fortunately noticed in the dark on the bridge by the Captain and a correction applied, but not before the submarine had come perilously close to the rocks and a spectacular grounding. The falling rain could be heard beating on the rocks as the submarine passed just yards away. Chris Munns Lt (SCO)

SAME PROBLEM DIFFERENT VIEW

We were doing static noise ranging between the buoys at the top of Loch Fyne near Inverary. We had gone to Harbour Stations and part of the routine was to have the anchor ready for letting go which meant that the hydraulics were opened up. Whilst we were manoeuvring out from the buoys, somehow the system failed and the anchor and cable ran out to its deck clench. So the full length of the cable with anchor was hanging beneath the submarine with the obvious effects that this would be having on manoeuvrability and the likely hood of fouling the range. With a rising gale blowing us towards the shore this was not a good situation to be in. A decision was made to let the anchor go, which was done from inside the submarine at the fore-ends. Courageous could then be manoeuvred with much greater ease.

The weather was not nice, the visibility was not very good and it was snowing as we sailed

down Loch Fyne. There was a jink in the middle of the loch and as we were going through and under helm, the compass tapes in the control room ran away. We started to over shoot because the helm was trying to come to the correct course unaware that gyro tapes were running away. The team on the bridge realising that we overshooting and ordered, “Wheel amidships.” Then carried out conning orders on the rudder to get back on course and we steered through the narrows using conning orders only. So a bit of a drama and on reflection we were very lucky not to run aground. Peter Godwin Lt (Supply Officer)

THE CAPTAINS POINT

26 February – 1 March 1979. Conducted full shut-down machinery calibrating noise recording when Reactor Compartment steam leak on flash-up forced early return to Faslane. As the SSN started to move out of the range, the anchor ran out on it’s own say-so to the full extent of the cable, nearly fouling the main range transducer cabling. After some 45 minutes trying to recover in a rising gale (it reached force 10), cable was laid out, fixed and buoyed and released. So, I could not be charged for losing it (S.206), as I knew where it was! Charlie Nixon-Eckersall (CO)

THIRD ANCHOR PROBLEM ON 2 BERTH AT FASLANE 1987

Operational work-up started on 4 May with the CSST team led by Lt Cdr David White (ST13). The following few weeks were a very intense period that provided the customary test of the submarine’s Control Room and weapons staff. Unfortunately, a couple of incidents occurred that added to the pressure. The first of these happened during a brief visit to Faslane to load weapons. The submarine was ordered to berth at 2 berth, bows south, for weapon embarkation. With weapons loaded, the submarine prepared for sea and was due to sail at 1800 on a Sunday (as usual) evening. A tug was secured to No. 2 bollard to balance the thrust of the eggbeater to pull the submarine clear of the jetty. However, it soon became clear that neither the tug nor the eggbeater or even both together could move the submarine more than a few feet off the jetty. With CSST watching on the jetty, it was eventually determined that the anchor had snagged on the (brand new) DG range that had been laid off 1 and 2 berths. The effort of pulling the submarine clear of the jetty had resulted in considerable and expensive damage to the new range. The cause was eventually traced to a small leak in the external hydraulic

system that had allowed the anchor cable (that was not secured after being prepared for letting go on entering harbour) to run slowly out over the 48 hours or so that the submarine was alongside loading weapons, until the anchor lay on the bottom, ready to snag the new DG range that surrounded it as soon as the submarine moved. Chris Munns Lt Cdr (XO)

SAME PROBLEM DIFFERENT VIEW

We slipped and the tugs started pulling us away, but something was up and eventually put us back alongside. We put divers down and we were dragging the anchor along the bottom of the loch ripping the degaussing range to bits. Apparently, it was a hydraulic leak causing the anchor to deploy. There was an inquiry. Grant Fox PO (SSM)

AND FINALLY THE CAPTAIN

The anchor problem on slipping was a nightmare, Captain Johnny Clarke, CSST himself, was on the Jetty and it was about 2000 in the evening, so it was dark or just about dark. Off we went and got about 100 yards off the jetty and the anchor just went. You suddenly heard the cable rattling out and we came to a grinding stop, swinging around the anchor cable and of course it had snagged some of the cables lying off the jetties off Faslane. There were tugs holding us out, we could not proceed, we could not get back, and we stayed there for five or six hours. Captain CSST stayed on the jetty, watching us until about two or three in the morning when we eventually got it sorted out and came back alongside. In the end it was it was human error not securing it properly. It was an embuggerance that I could have done without and there was the inevitable Ships Investigation. Cdr Niall Kilgour Commanding Officer

THE CULPRIT BELOW

Anchor

ANOTHER ANCHOR SAGA.

When I was on Trafalgar as the Chief Ops (TS) we were in mid Atlantic on passage to Bermuda dived and cracking on at a fair rate of knots during the night. The W.E’s decided that it would be a wonderful idea to shake up the rams so that they could disturb those sleeping in the WSC.

I was OPSO minding my own business when the Sound Room Controller asked if we had just let go the anchor, a really very stupid question in mid Atlantic. However, on looking at the Anchor Home Indication in the Control Room I found that yes we had indeed let the anchor go. I believe that it ran out to its full extent.

I often wonder what would have happened if the depth of water had been much, much shallower would we have nosedived into the mud or worse. Pitt.k (former naval person)