What happens if a Submarine goes missing
By its underwater nature, the submarine service remains one of the more perilous jobs in the Royal Navy. Advanced technology means that today's nuclear-powered vessels can now remain 120 days without surfacing and deliver a cruise missile with pinpoint accuracy to a target 400 miles away. There are also hundreds of checks constantly carried out on board and improved training for modern submariners. But there is always the potential for disaster.
In 1913, a memo was issued to all men of the submarine service by an admiral in charge of the fleet, which stressed the danger. He wrote: 'It is essential that the crew of a submarine should be highly trained for every officer or man has it in his power, by neglect or stupidity, to jeopardise his vessel and risk the lives of his shipmates.' The warning may have been issued before the First World War but it is an ethos which the Navy still strongly adheres to.
The Royal Navy today operates a total of 16 submarines, based in Scotland and Plymouth and which include four Error!: SQLSTATE[42000] [1226] User 'lauk_merlin' has exceeded the 'max_user_connections' resource (current value: 30)