Navy sub returns home after repairs

London: A Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine that hit a rock last month in the Red Sea, damaging its sonar equipment, has returned to Britain, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.

Subsequent to hitting a submerged pinnacle after passing through the Suez Canal, HMS Superb underwent repairs at the Nato facility in Souda Bay, Crete, before returning to Devonport naval base in Plymouth, southwest England, under its own power.

An assessment will now be made before a decision is taken on the future of the almost 83-metre long Swiftsure-class attack submarine that was about 130 kilometres south of Suez when it struck the rock.

No other vessel was involved and an investigation into the incident is now being carried out by the Royal Navy.

It is not the first time a Royal Navy vessel has run aground. A recent report described how the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Trafalgar struck the bottom of the sea at more than 14 knots off the Isle of Skye in 2002 after basic navigational errors during a training exercise. The destroyer HMS Nottingham hit rocks, also in 2002, while two years earlier, the frigate HMS Grafton ran aground after striking rocks.