Commander of crashed sub ‘relied on students’
Commander stripped of seniority at court martial after crash caused £2m damage to nuclear vessel
A senior Royal Navy commander who wrote a book on the use of periscopes crashed one of Britain’s nuclear submarines after relying on his students’ observations of surrounding vessels. Commander Justin Codd pleaded guilty at a court martial over the accident involving the £1billion HMS Ambush during a training exercise off the coast of Spain. The 45-year-old was said to have taken “his eye off the ball’’, resulting in the vessel crashing into a merchant ship.
A SENIOR Royal Navy commander who literally wrote the book on the use of periscopes crashed one of Britain’s 11 nuclear submarines after relying on his students’ observations of surrounding vessels.
Commander Justin Codd pleaded guilty at a court martial over the accident involving the £1billion HMS Ambush during a training exercise off the coast of Spain.
The 45-year-old was said to have taken “his eye off the ball’’, resulting in the vessel crashing into a merchant ship. He was yesterday stripped of a year of seniority by a panel of senior officers at Portsmouth Naval Base.
HMS Ambush suffered damage to its conning tower after hitting the ship as it surfaced near the Gibraltar coast on July 20 2016. Repairs cost the Navy £2.1 million.
The court martial heard Cdr Codd failed to prioritise the safety of the vessel, which was being operated by two sailors on the final day of their 23-week course.
Capt John Atwill, prosecuting, said Cdr Codd did not utilise a second periscope to examine his surroundings so as to reduce the risk of detection and relied on the information gathered by the students in the first periscope.
Cdr Codd “wrongly assumed” MV Andreas, which was “loitering” in the area and clearly visible, was not a threat. When students turned to avoid a small yacht, the submarine was put on course to collide with the merchant vessel. Portsmouth Military Court heard despite this there would still have been enough time to avoid the collision by diving, but Cdr Codd failed to take action.
Capt Atwill said: “His decision to focus on teaching and not safety compounded the errors made by the students. He believed his understanding was enough to keep the submarine safe – the very fact of the collision disproves this case.”
The court heard that it is not necessarily dangerous for instructors not to use a second periscope. Capt Sean Moore, defending, said that Codd was highly respected by senior commanders and had been involved in learning lessons from the accident.
He said: “Not only did he remain as teacher but he revised the training procedures. Having written the book on optronic periscopes, having learnt from this incident, he’s taken the lead in rewriting the book.”
The court heard that the punishment would impact on Cdr Codd’s
‘His decision to focus on teaching and not safety compounded errors made by students’
career progression and his salary of £78,000 a year. He had been in charge of teaching the Royal Navy’s “Perisher” programme – so named because of its high failure rate.
HMS Ambush, one of the Royal Navy’s 7,400-ton Astute-class vessels, carries what are described as “world-leading sensors to detect other submarines and surface ships”. Despite this it still managed to hit the merchant vessel, which escaped undamaged.
Photographs showed submariners with their heads bowed next to its badly dented turret as it limped into Gibraltar following the collision. Its heavily gashed main tower was later covered by tarpaulin and surrounded by armed guards. The Navy tried to allay fears, saying there were “no safety concerns” as the collision had not damaged HMS Ambush’s nuclear plan.
Acommander who has been court-martialled for crashing a submarine was in charge of teaching the Royal Navy’s “Perisher” programme, so dubbed because of its high failure rate. He did not check on the safety of what his students were doing by looking through the second periscope. The prosecutor summed things up pithily: “He believed his understanding was enough to keep the submarine safe – the very fact of the collision disproves this case.”
It could be worse. When being treated in hospital, it’s the done thing to agree to allow a senior doctor to practice on you in front of their students. One likes to do one’s bit. But when the doctor performs some invasive technique, smiles and says: “Now, did anyone spot my deliberate mistake?” – that’s taking teaching too far.