Submarine collision / Colisão de submarinos

Dois submarinos nucleares conseguiram a proeza se chocar em pleno Oceano Atlântico, há alguns dias.

O submarino britânico "HMS Vanguard" (foto superior) e o francês "Le Triomphant"(foto de baixo) estavam submersos e sofreram danos consideráveis, mas conseguiram retornar a seus portos após a colisão, em 3 de fevereiro.

Os dois submarinos são figuras centrais de suas forças nucleares marinhas, cada qual carregando uma baterial de mísseis balísticos intercontinentais com ogivas variadas.

Não houve nenhum risco de disparo acidental dos mísseis em virtude da colisão, pois eles só podem ser lançados após complexos procedimentos, feitos jsutamente para torná-los seguros em caso de acidente.

Embora o local do acidente não tenha sido revelado, sabe-se que Le Triomphant levou três dias para retornar ao seu porto de origem.

Two nuclear submarines, one French and the other British, collided in mid-Atlantic earlier this month, reports in the British and French news media said on Monday, quoting sources in the two defense ministries.

The British submarine, HMS Vanguard, is in the upper picture.

Both submarines were damaged extensively but have returned to their home ports since the collision on the night of February 3, the reports said.

The French vessel, Le Triomphant (lower picture), was said to have suffered severe damage to its sonar dome, housing equipment crucial to navigation and tracking of other ships. The British craft, H.M.S. Vanguard, was towed back to its home port at Faslane in Scotland with very visible dents and scrapes.

The two submarines are at the core of their countries’ nuclear forces, each carrying a battery of intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with multiple warheads. None of the media reports suggested there had been any risk of the collision accidentally triggering the missiles, which can be launched only after complex procedures designed to make the missiles fail-safe in the event of accidents.

But what little is known about the collision suggests that the two vessels were fortunate to have avoided a more serious outcome, including sinking. Although defense officials in London and Paris gave no indication of where the collision occurred, the fact that it took Le Triomphant three days to limp back to its home port after the collision, a detail disclosed by French officials, suggested the two craft had been far out at sea.