Oops! I’ve just pranged my new warship
Parking in dark caused £100k damage
HE’D only been in command of his warship for a few days.
But Lieutenant Commander Simon Reeve’s minehunter now has a £100,000 hole in its hull after his first attempt to dock it in the dark ended in a collision.
The hull of the 200ft HMS Chiddingfold was reportedly torn open as the crew tried to squeeze it into a spot next to another minehunter HMS Penzance – only to collide with it twice.
The 700-ton Chiddingfold will now be out of commission for months while its plastic hull is fixed.
The accident came less than a week after the Lieutenant Commander Reeve became captain of the ship, which is currently at a UK naval base in Bahrain.
‘He slammed her into reverse, but was too late,’ a source told The Sun. ‘Chiddingfold’s side hit HMS Penzance. She swung out and hit her again.’ The Royal Navy said ‘wind, tide and equipment failure’ was to blame for the March 16 incident. It added: ‘Repairs will take place during the maintenance period she returned to Bahrain for.’
HMS Chiddingfold, launched in 1983 and commissioned the following year, is usually based in Portsmouth. Nicknamed Cheery Chid, it is one a number of Hunt class minehunters which have glass reinforced plastic hulls so they do not trigger magnetic mines.
The ship left Portsmouth last October on a three-year deployment with around 50 crew members on board and is currently in the Gulf with HMS Penzance to protect oil shipping lanes. It is also used to find and destroy mines left behind after previous conflicts. Lieutenant Commander Reeves has been a Royal Navy warfare officer since 2006. He is married with two young children.
It is thought he has ‘extensive experience’ with Hunt-class ships, and ‘extenuating circumstances’ were to blame for the collision. The MoD said: ‘Our other ships in the region continue to carry out their duties and there is no impact to operational commitments.’