HMS Vigilant in 2014. Royal Navy Photo
I've attached an interesting article from Proceedings that came out this morning.
Why is this important, and have I suddenly started pointing fingers at our allies? This matters because HMS Vigilant (S30) is what we in the trade refer to as a "boomer". She carries sixteen (16) Trident II D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM's), and is part of the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent forces.
While the article states that the Commanding Officer was relieved for having a "inappropriate romantic affair" with a female crew member, it does not mention that the Executive Officer (Second Officer in Royal Navy parlance) was ALSO removed for a romantic relationship with a (different) female crew member the same week (The Daily Telegraph, 6 October 2017).
Editorial:
The Laws of the Navy
Admiral R. A. Hopwood, R.N.
1.Now these are the laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
And he who is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea;
2.As naught may outrun the destroyer,
So it is with law and its grip,
For the strength of ship is the Service,
And the strength of the Service the ship.
3.Take heed what you say of your seniors,
Be your words spoken softly or plain,
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter,
And so shall ye hear it again.
4.If you labor from morn until even,
And meet with reproof for your toil,
‘Tis well, that the gun may be humbled,
The compressor must check the recoil.
5.On the strength of one link in the cable,
Depends the might of the chain.
Who know when thou may be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!
6.When a ship that is tired returneth,
With the signs of the seas showing plain,
Men place her in dock for a season,
And her speed she reneweth again.
7.So shall ye, if perchance ye grow weary,
In the uttermost parts of the sea;
Pray for leave for the good of the Service,
As much and as oft as may be.
8.Count not upon certain promotion
But rather to gain it aspire
Though the sightline may end of the target,
There cometh perchance the miss-fire.
9.If you win through an Arctic ice floe,
Unmentioned at home in the Press,
Heed it not, no man seeth the piston,
But it driveth the ship none the less.
10.Can’st follow the track of the dolphin?
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where Leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his home?
11.So it is with the words of thy seniors,
And the orders these words shall convey;
Every law is naught beside this one,
“Thou shall not criticize but obey.”
12.Say the wise: How may I know their purpose?
then acts without wherefore or why;
Stays the fool but one moment to question,and the chance of his life passes by.
13.Do they growl, it is well. Be thou silent,
So that work goeth forward amain.
Lo! the gun throws the shot to a hair’s breadth
And shouteth, yet none shall complain.
14.Do they growl and the work be retarded?
It is ill; be whatever their rank.
the half loaded gun also shouteth
But can she pierce target with blank?
15.Doth the funnels make war with the paintwork?
Do the decks to the cannon complain?
Nay, they know that some soap and a scraper
Unites them as brothers again.
16.So ye, being Heads of departments,
Do your growl with a smile on your lip,
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted,
And lessen the might of your ship.
17.Dost think in a moment of anger
‘Tis well with thy seniors to fight,
They prosper who burn in the morning
The letters they wrote overnight.
18.For some there be, shelved and forgotten,
With nothing to thank for their fate,
Save that (on a half-sheet of foolscap),
A fool “Had the honour to state–“
19.Dost deem that they vessel needs gilding,
And the dockyard forbear to supply;
Place thy hand in thy pocket and gild her,
There be those who have risen thereby.
20.If the fairway be crowded with shipping
Beating homeward the harbour to win,
It is meet that lest any should suffer
The steamers pass cautiously in.
21.so thou when thou nearest promotion
And the peak that is gilded is nigh,
Give heed to thy words and thine actions
Lest other be wearied thereby.
22.It is ill for the winners to worry,
Take thy fate as it comes, with a smile,
And when though art safe in the harbour
they may envy but will not revile.
23.Uncharted the rocks that surround thee,
Take heed that the channels thou learn,
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal the “court Martial Return.”
24.Though Armor, the belt that protects her,
the ship bears the scar on her side;
it is well if the Court acquit thee,
It were best had’st thou never been tried.
25.Now these are the laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
and he that is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea.
26.As the wave rise clear to the hawse pipe,
Washes aft, and is lost in the wake,
So shall ye drop astern, all unheeded,
Such time as the law ye forsake.
27.Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and mighty are they,
But the hull and the deck and the keel
and the truck of the law is– OBEY.
NCIS: U.S. Sailors, Personnel Not Involved in Florida U.K. Royal Navy Incidents
Neither U.S. sailors nor civilian personnel were involved in so-called “drug-fueled” parties with members of the crew of the U.K. nuclear ballistic missile submarine HMS Vigilant that resulted in the expulsion of nine sailors from the Royal Navy, U.S. officials told USNI News on Sunday.
According to reports carried by the BBC and The Daily Mail, member of Vigilant’s crew failed drug tests for cocaine when the boat was pier-side at the U.S. submarine base at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga.
The reports indicated the U.K. sailors had abused drugs at series of ongoing parties for a month at nearby Florida hotels while Vigilant was at Kings Bay in September.
After anonymous notifications to Royal Navy superiors, the U.K. sailors were tested for drugs and nine failed and were removed from the service, according to the reports.
“Defense Secretary Michael Fallon is understood to have ordered all U.K. submarine crews to be tested for drugs,” reported the BBC.
“He is said to have given First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones a ‘roasting’ over the incident.”
“He is said to have given First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones a ‘roasting’ over the incident.”
The U.S. Navy provided logistical support for the investigation to the Royal Navy but there were no indication U.S. sailors or civilian personnel were involved in the incidents, NCIS spokesman Ed Buice told USNI News on Sunday night.
Earlier this month, the commander of Vigilant was removed for having an inappropriate romantic relationship with a subordinate.
Royal Navy operates four Vanguard-class submarines that act as the U.K.’s sole nuclear deterrent. While the U.K. fields its own nuclear warheads, they share a common stockpile of Trident II D5 located in Georgia.
“The missiles are randomly selected from the U.S.-U.K. stockpile at Kings Bay, Ga. and loaded onto submarines. The British submarines then sail for the Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, [Scotland],” read an entry in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Combat Fleets.
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