At ￡1.2billion it is the world's most advanced sub - yet HMS Astute lies humiliatingly stranded yesterday after running aground.
The 323ft nuclear vessel was on trials but unarmed when it got stuck in shallow water off Skye at around 8am - hundreds of metres outside the Royal Navy's safe lanes.
Early efforts to free the 7,800-tonne craft from the shingle bank failed. But it was finally towed off shortly after 6pm.
Hms Astute boasts a state-of-the-art auto pilot and sonar system and can lie virtually undetected in waters near the coast.
Yesterday the stealth sub, skippered by Cmdr Andy Coles, spent 10 hours in full view of passers-by after sailing past simple buoys that warn sailors of shallow water.
Ross Mckerlich, 56, who runs the local lifeboat crew, saw the vessel from his home a mile away. He said: "It's gone inside the channel buoys. I can't believe it.
"I've never seen a sub as big as this come this close. Somebody's made an error. Everybody knows how shallow it is there.
"I have been running the lifeboat for 15 years and had boats for 30 years and I'm amazed he has ended up where he has." Fellow witness Nigel Smith said: "It's not far from the Skye Bridge. People are lining the streets to try and get a look." Former nuclear sub engineer Martin Douglas warned that as the tide dropped, the secrets of the boat's propulsion system risked becoming visible to all.
The vessel, built by BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, was commissioned into the Navy two months ago and is due to enter service in 2011.
It is the first in a fleet of six that will replace Trafalgar-class subs.
Last month Cmdr Coles bragged: "We have a brand new method of controlling the submarine...by platform management system, rather than the old conventional way of doing everything of using your hands. This is fly-by-wire technology, including only an auto pilot rather than a steering column." It is believed crew were being moved from the shore to the craft when it ran aground.
A Navy spokesman initially claimed: "It got a bit too close to the shore but there's no damage. These things are designed to fight wars." But the MoD later admitted the boat's rudder may have been harmed.
John Ainslie of Scottish CND, said: "This is the latest in a long line of incidents involving nuclear subs off the west coast of Scotland.
Previous incidents have shown an appalling lack of common sense and basic navigation skills."
The Navy has in recent years had a number of embarrassing mishaps.
In 2008 the submarine HMS Superb hit rocks under the Suez Canal after a "1" was mistaken for a "7" on charts. Submarine HMS Trafalgar sustained millions of pounds of damage when it ran aground off Skye in 2002.
The same year saw HMS Liverpool, a Type 42 Destroyer, smashed into a Portsmouth harbour wall just after ￡200million refit.
The MoD is to spend ￡4million refitting the warship HMS Bristol even though it will be used solely for training.
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Post time 23-10-2010 07:06 PM
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