‘Nuclear Disaster Waiting to Happen’

Only matter of time before disaster strikes Trident submarines —Royal Navy Whistleblower

Weapons engineer William McNeilly, a submariner with the UK’s Trident Strategic Weapons System, has decried the safety measures in place around the Trident submarine program, describing it as a “disaster waiting to happen.”

He writes in an online post that he was on patrol with HMS Victorious this year, describing multiple security lapses at UK’s Faslane Naval Base (HMNB Clyde, aka HMS Neptune about 40 km west of Glasgow, Scotland), as well as technical faults with the Trident missiles carrier.

“There were a lot of red tags on equipment in most of the compartments we went into. I highly suspected a lot of them were for defect rectification, rather than standard maintenance Tagouts. Seeing the condition of the security and equipment made me more than concerned, for the safety of the people.”

It’s only a matter of time before a Trident submarines is lost, said McNeilly.

HMS Vanguard a Trident submarine makes an appearance in the book for the deep depth incident. The submarine exceeded 300 meters (safe depth is 65meters). They underestimated the weight of the submarine and didn’t have enough speed for the Aft-planes to create raise. The further the submarine descended the more the weight of the submarine increased due to pressure. The rate of weight increase was greater than the rate that they were pumping out water. The submarine was extremely close to being lost.

“Basically they’re endangering the public and spending billions upon billions of tax payers money for a system so broken it can’t even do the tests that prove it works,” he said.

It’s disturbing to know that the people serving on these boats are aware of many ways to destroy them from within. One of the biggest threats we face is suicidal attack from within. There have been suicides onboard, and on an A-boat we had a shooter kill his own work colleagues. There were some people that I served with on that patrol, who showed clear psychopathic tendencies. The odds favour destruction, if no action is taking.

Mr McNeilly said he raised concerns with senior officers but they were ignored.

Royal Navy said: “The Royal Navy takes security and nuclear safety extremely seriously and we are fully investigating both the issue of the unauthorised release of this document and its contents.

“The naval service operates its submarine fleet under the most stringent safety regime and submarines do not go to sea unless they are completely safe to do so.”

McNeilly concludes: “I strongly believe that the Prime Minister and most people that defended Trident had no idea about how dire the situation is. This is not the time to judge on what they did when they didn’t know; it’s about what they do now that they know.”

“These revelations, if true, are extremely concerning. It reads as a nightmare catalog of serious safety breaches,” said Angus Robertson, leader of SNP. “Failure to follow standard safety procedures is unacceptable in any workplace but on a Trident submarine on patrol it could result in extreme tragedy, not just for those on board but indeed for the entire planet.”