Navy officer ‘took his eye off the ball’ as £1bn nuclear sub hit ship
A ROYAL Navy officer crashed a nuclear submarine into a tanker after he “took his eye off the ball” during an exercise to train future commanders, a court martial heard yesterday.
Commander Justin Codd, 45, was in charge of one of Britain’s latest and most advanced submarines, the £1billion HMS Ambush, during the “toughest military command course in the world”.
But he failed to spot the 24,000-ton tanker MV Andreas looming overhead off the coast of Gibraltar in July 2016.
Yesterday the officer – who has had a distinguished 22-year career in the Navy – admitted hazarding a ship when he appeared before a court martial at Portsmouth naval base.
Commander Codd, who is attached to the UK Maritime Battle Staff, was stripped of a year of seniority by a panel of officers over the blunder. Sentencing Commander Codd, Judge Advocate Robert Hill told him: “You have, save for this incident, an exemplary record. It was more in the nature of a momentary aberration than a careless attitude.”
The court heard that the senior officer, who earns £78,000 a year, failed to prioritise the safety of the hunter-killer submarine, which was being operated by two sailors on the final day of the 23-week long course.
Captain John Atwill, prosecuting, told the hearing the students were practising controlling the submarine at periscope depth while observing shipping movements.
Cpt Atwill said the failure happened, despite the submarine having two periscopes, because Commander Codd failed to carry out his own observations and relied on the images provided by his students.
He said the students focused on a yacht and had not identified the risk posed by the tanker which was “loitering” in the nearby area.
Captain Sean Moore, defending, said “Because of a few minutes of distraction, all he had worked so hard for over 20 years was put in jeopardy. He let down his colleagues and put them at risk. At the very end of a very long period of training, he took his eye off the ball.”
The submarine’s conning tower smashed into the tanker.
The 7,400-ton Astute-class submarine was taken out of service for three months to undergo repairs costing £2.1million.