Nuclear submarine damaged in collision with tanker set to return from Gibraltar

A NUCLEAR-POWERED Royal Navy submarine which was dam- aged in a collision with a mer- chant vessel has left port in Gibraltar to return to the UK for repairs.

HMS Ambush was forced to dock in Gibraltar after the collision on July 20 and had remained in port while the extent of the damage was assessed.

The Astute-class attack submarine has now returned to sea and officials have insisted it is “absolutely safe” with no damage to its nuclear reactor.

A Ministry of Defence spokes- man said: “We can confirm it has left Gibraltar.”

The Spanish authorities had demanded explanations about the incident, and the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation in Madrid said the boat was returning to the UK.

A statement released by the Spanish government on Thursday said: “In response to the request reiterated yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the embassy of the United Kingdom announced in the late afternoon that, following an assessment made after the accident suffered by HMS Ambush, it has been decided to repair the vessel in the United Kingdom.

“The embassy also confirmed once again that the reactor was not affected in the incident.”

Ministry of Defence officials said the collision with the vessel, reported to be a tanker, had caused “some external damage” to the hi-tech submarine, which cost more than £1bn.

Photographs showed the vessel’s conning tower badly damaged, with a large dent in its front as a result of what the Ministry of Defence described as a “glancing” collision. The submarine was involved in the collision despite being equipped with what the Royal Navy boasts are “world-leading sensors”.