Sunday, May 17, 2015

U.K.'s Trident submarines "a disaster waiting to happen"


The Royal Navy's Trident-class nuclear submarine Vanguard
The Royal Navy's Trident-class nuclear submarine Vanguard


Heather Greenaway/Daily Record and Sunday Mail
17 May 2015
A NUCLEAR weapons engineer has warned Trident submarines are “a disaster waiting to happen.”
William McNeilly claims serious safety blunders and multiple security lapses at Faslane are putting the UK in danger.
The whistleblower, who is now on the run from the military police, says he was on patrol with HMS Victorious from January to April this year.
He alleges the Trident missiles the submarine carries are vulnerable to a terrorist attack that “would kill our people and destroy our land.”
McNeilly told the Sunday Herald he believes infiltrators have “the perfect opportunity to send nuclear warheads crashing down on the UK.
In his detailed 18-page report called the Nuclear Secrets he claims to lift the lid on the alarming state of the UK’s ageing and short-staffed nuclear deterrent.
McNeilly alleges 30 safety and security flaws on Trident submarines, based at Faslane, including failures in testing whether missiles could be safely launched, burning toilet rolls starting a fire in a missile compartment, and security passes and bags going unchecked.
He also reports alarms being muted because they went off so often, missile safety procedures being ignored and top secret information left unguarded.
McNeilly, who went absent without leave from the Royal Navy last week and expects to be arrested, said: “My information comes from good sources and I have no reason to lie. If change isn’t made, a nuclear catastrophe almost certainly will happen.”
The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into McNeilly’s report, and is working with civilian police to find him. It describes his criticisms as “subjective and unsubstantiated,” stressing that submarines never go to sea unless they are completely safe.

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