Fishing Boat in UK Clashes With Mysterious Vessel...

A fisherman from the UK called Angus McLeod, said his boat clashed against a mysterious vessel off the Outer Hebredes. His crew have combined experience of 100+ years yet none can explain what they experienced. They at first wondered if it was a submarine but were told no submarines were in the area. Some have considered whether it's Russian submarines shadowing a Royal Navy Vanguard sub – which carries Trident missiles.

The captain reported that whatever it was, it was massive and believed it was man-powered.
Mystery surrounds exactly what it is. A quote from the article:

“I would like to get to the bottom of it. It was a very worrying experience - it shook us all up especially when we thought about it afterwards. Whatever happened involved a moving object in mid-stream."

A Coastguard spokesman said: “The MoD have told us there was no submarine activity in the area at the time. We are continuing to investigate.”

To read the full article and story, link here: www.mirror.co.uk...

a reply to: AlmostRosey

If there was a sub in the area its doubtful the MoD would admit it, especially if it was a Vanguard.

Years ago you could call an automated information line that told you when Navy ships would arrive and depart. It never included subs. The number for sub movements was answered by a person, and if you didn't have a provable connection to the sub, they wouldn't tell you anything.

Assuming that it WAS a sub....what the heck kind of navigation allows a sub with nuclear missiles to collide with a fishing boat?

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

Not the first time a sub has collided with a boat on the surface. The USS Greenville did an emergency surface demonstration and sank a Japanese training ship they never even saw, despite doing both a sonar and periscope check.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Assuming that it WAS a sub....what the heck kind of navigation allows a sub with nuclear missiles to collide with a fishing boat?

Good point. You'd think they'd have the abilities to maneuver safely and discreetly.

Zaphod58- Thanks for that information. I suppose only those that NEED to know, will know.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

Not the first time a sub has collided with a boat on the surface. The USS Greenville did an emergency surface demonstration and sank a Japanese training ship they never even saw, despite doing both a sonar and periscope check.

Woah. So it's not impossible that this could be a sub. Thanks for the info.

a reply to: AlmostRosey

Oh not at all. If the fishing boat was at low power or not moving passive sonar may not have picked it up. Or if there was a lot of other noise. Sonar doesn't work nearly as well in shallow water.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I am sure I have read of a Cornish vessel quietly fishing when a sub got caught up in the nets and dragged the vessel down. They all drowned and it took ages for information to come out that it was a sub. I seem to remember it was actually one of our own. Wonder if anyone else remembers this, it was a big news story at its time?

a reply to: Shiloh7

I don't know if it's the same event but I do recall at least one fishing boat accident like that. There have been quite a few accidents involving subs, just because of the way they operate.

a reply to: Zaphod58

We lived in Devon opposite one of the oldest fishing families in the town. Those guys were sharp as I suspect they had to be to survive.

What amazes me is how people when they hear experiences related by sailers seem to think of them as barking. I remember the Captain of the QE saying he had been big by giant waves yet the scientists were telling them that they could't exist.

I certainly would believe what the sailers thought about their experience, but I doubt the government or maritime institutions will be interested in investigating this, (unless they thought it was an insurance scam).

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Assuming that it WAS a sub....what the heck kind of navigation allows a sub with nuclear missiles to collide with a fishing boat?

It didn't collide with the trawler, it was snagged in the fishing nets hanging deep below the trawler and dragged it along.

The sub could have clearly seen that the trawler was there and just not known the nets were, although this is dubious because they would presumably have known the vessel was above them and reasonably came to the conclusion of what it was, therefore an intelligent captain of any sub would have realized that they were in the vicinity of fishing nets.

If it was a sub, it either failed to see the trawler, or the captain failed to make the logical conclusion that it was a fishing vessel with nets, or it was a deliberate act.

I find it hard to believe they didn't see this big trawler above, and I find it hard to believe that the captain of any sub would fail to work out that a trawler in fishing waters off Scotland would have fishing nets beneath it.

a reply to: Rocker2013

They have to rely on the sound signature and several types of ships have a similar signature to a fishing trawler. If this was a new area they were working, or a foreign sub there wouldn't be any reason for the sub to go straight to a fishing trawler.

When I was a kid, i was with my parents, we were sailing on the North Sea, somewhere before the Belgian coast.

Then we spotted a pole about 50 meters beside us. At first glans we thought is was a stationary pole, as we were not very far offshore. And strong currents make stationary objects "moving" as there is no reference and the water passes by.
So we looked at the charts , if we missed any object or baken in out plotted course, or made a mistake ( This was before computerized sea navigation) .. Afraid we might run into ground or something.

Then it raised and a dark object came out of the see... same course as us... a little faster.. We were stunned at first.. then we concluded it was a submarine.

It was not that large, but still intimidating from such a short distance and unexpected. Suddenly water before and behind started to get disturbed and we realized we did only see the command tower and the main part of the sub was still under the water slowly coming above as well. It stayed like that and sailed alongside a few minutes before it went back below the waves. Not to be seen again.
I do remember being struck by the size.... as i never did see one for real at that time..

As i was a kidd i just found it very very fascinating .... I wasn't afraid, but heavily impressed. Although we did wonder if it had noticed us at all...

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
Assuming that it WAS a sub....what the heck kind of navigation allows a sub with nuclear missiles to collide with a fishing boat?

There have been 9 collisions involving submarines with other vessels since 2000....

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Zaphod58

That sub wasn't very lucky ... two collisions and once run a ground...and never to be heard of after 2011


en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: hellobruce

That list is not complete... see my above post. The USS Greenville hit another boat in 2001 and run aground in 2002

Both incidents not reported on your list.


That's why the Russians have windows on their subs!

If it was a Russian submarine, it's even less likely that they would admit it than if it were a British one.

The MoD would have to admit that they allowed a Russian submarine into British waters, a major embarrassment.

I wonder if a Russian sub would slip under a big trawler like that to hide?

I'm surprised the guys didn't cut a line on their net to get free and had to 'get lucky' with the propeller doing it. Huge cost of course, but if they got pulled it could have easily been a rescue mission instead.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

Not the first time a sub has collided with a boat on the surface. The USS Greenville did an emergency surface demonstration and sank a Japanese training ship they never even saw, despite doing both a sonar and periscope check.

Which then led many to believe that the vessel was not really a fishing research vessel because if had radar eluding capabilities. Many thought it was a Japanese invention that was on board that would not allow whales to see them and it also didn't let the Sub see them as well. which led to the suspicion the fishing research vessel was researching technology for hunting whales.

a reply to: AlmostRosey

Who told them there were no subs in the area? I asked because a subs location is always classified.