Here we consider the implications of the unfortunate collision of two Royal Navy ships in Bahrain, seen in the wider context of peacetime naval accidents.
Chiddingfold V Bangor
On 19th January while manoeuvring in the harbour at Bahrain. HMS Chiddingfold struck HMS Bangor. Technically this was not a ‘collision’ but an ‘allision’ which involves an accident where only one of the vessels is moving. Videos and images taken by personnel on the dockside in Bahrain (which is not publicly accessible) quickly circulated on social media and were then picked up by mainstream news channels.
Chiddingfold had just completed major work on her propulsion system carried out by contractors in Bahrain. She was assisted in leaving the berth ahead of Bangor by two small tugs (Svitzer Dilmun and Svitzer Tylos). Conditions were sunny and calm with a light offshore breeze. Once off the berth, she went astern, hitting HMS Bangor with some considerable force. As smoke is emitted from the funnel just seconds before impact it suggests full ahead was commanded on both engines but instead, they went harder astern, increasing the speed of the allision. There was just time for shouts of “brace, brace, brace” to warn of the impending danger and sailors on the upper deck can be seen reacting quickly.
Bangor suffered significant damage to her port side with a large breach in the fibreglass hull. Other images posted by sailors show the junior rates’ mess and bunk spaces distorted by the impact, suggesting there could also be internal structural damage. Fortunately, no one was injured and neither ship was holed below the waterline. There may be damage to the rudder but Chiddingfold appears to have suffered less as the heavier vessel and the impact was mostly taken on her starboard quarter which is far stronger than the side of a hull.
The RN has already launched an enquiry and the full facts will doubtless emerge in the future but reliable sources say this accident was caused by a mechanical breakdown in the propulsion control system and not a ship-handling error. Various media outlets are now suggesting the fault was wiring in the control system being replaced the wrong way around resulting in levers set to ahead putting the propellors into reverse. This may be an oversimplification but the Hunts are known to have suffered from throttle actuator failures in the past.
Although now 40 years old, HMS Chiddingfold received new Caterpillar C32 ACERT Diesel engines during a major refit in Portsmouth in 2018 described by BAE Systems as the “most extensive package of work ever carried out to the plastic hulls of any Hunt Class mine countermeasure vessels.” If faulty engine controls are found to be the cause of the accident then the focus of the enquiry will likely be on the post-maintenance checks and how thoroughly the systems were tested before the ship left the wall.
In April 2021 in the same harbour HMS Chiddingfold struck HMS Penzance, although the accident was believed to have been caused by a sudden gust of wind. GRP is not simple to repair and Chiddingfold’s outer hull was damaged and was out of action for 3 months and required a £100k repair at a local yard. Despite having large propellors and a bow thruster, the Hunt class have high slab sides and a shallow and rounded hull shape optimised for slow-speed minehunting and they can be hard to control in sidewinds. However, it seems almost certain that wind was not a factor in the recent accident.
All navies have accidents
Every incident is embarrassing for the navy concerned and is quickly pounced on by critics as evidence of institutional decline and widespread incompetence. Most of the accidents result from operator error with mechanical failure being less common but seafaring has always been a demanding and sometimes dangerous profession where even small mistakes or minor technical faults may have serious consequences. While these events make headlines, the achievement of years of conducting safe, sustained, and sometimes extremely complex operations covering thousands of miles are overlooked. A reputation built up over years can be damaged in minutes.
In the 21st Century, the RN has suffered at least 4 incidents resulting in significant damage to surface vessels and a similar number of submarine accidents. This does not include minor bumps incurring slight damage during manoeuvres in ports and harbours that have not made it into the public domain. The US Navy has an equivalent, or slightly worse record in proportion to its much larger fleet. There is no place for complacency and lessons have to be continually learned and re-learned that attention to detail with maintenance, refined procedures and continuous training is the only way to minimise inherent risk.
Because the top-tier navies are larger and tend to be more active they are statistically at higher risk of mishaps. It is a certainty there have been other accidents that are unreported or covered up in the navies of nations under the control of repressive regimes. This adds to the false impression Western navies are more accident-prone. The open nature of democratic media and universal access to cameraphones also makes it increasingly difficult for officialdom to cover up or control the narrative. NATO nations also offer a further measure of transparency and accountability by publishing detailed Board of Enquiry reports after the events. It would be surprising if the Chinese Navy which is expanding very rapidly has not had experienced incidents that have not been made public. The Soviet/Russian Navy also has a long and spectacular record of disasters both in port and at sea, many of which are now in the public domain.
Strategic consequences?
HMS Bangor was due to be decommissioned soon. She is the sole Sandown class single-role minehunter (SRMH) left in service. The penultimate SRMH, of a class that once numbered 15-vessels, HMS Penzance held her decommissioning ceremony in Faslane on the 9th January. The RN has accelerated their withdrawal from service to create ‘budget headroom’ to invest in autonomous minehunting capabilities. The initial steps on this journey can be seen with the arrival of the first uncrewed boat RNMB Harrier in Bahrain in March 2023 and the purchase of MHC mothership RFA Stirling Castle. Unfortunately, this capability is not yet fully mature and a risk is being taken by withdrawing MCMVs before replacements are available in numbers and fully proven on operations.
It would be difficult to justify the cost of repairs to HMS Bangor. She could be decommissioned and recycled in Bahrain or returned to the UK on a heavy lift ship for disposal. The only reason she might be repaired would be if there was interest from a foreign navy in purchasing her. It should be noted the MoD has yet to find a way to dispose of any of the GRP Hunt or Sandown class vessels that they have been unable to sell.
The optics of this accident are especially unfortunate at a time when the UK is effectively involved in an undeclared war in the Middle East against Iran and its proxies. It is also obviously highly embarrassing for the Navy, coming just at a time when there has been a swathe of negative news stories about the state of the service as a whole. The inevitable jokes, banter and memes that have followed may be a bit of fun but also add to international reputational damage and the Secretary of State will not have enjoyed having to explain the accident in public. Of greater significance is the additional threat to shipping that could be posed by Houthis laying sea mines in the Red Sea. In the recent conflict, there have not yet been reports of Houthi mine warfare activity but in Dec 2020 a sea mine planted by the Houthis struck a cargo ship in the Red Sea.
As part of the draw-down of the MCMV force, the RN had already reduced the number of vessels forward-deployed in Bahrain from four to three (HMS Chiddingfold, Middleton and Bangor). Should there be the need for mine clearance in either the Persian Gulf or Red Sea then the RN force immediately available has been substantially reduced. A live trial for autonomous mine hunting using RFA Cardigan Bay deployed as a mothership to RNMB Harrier and other MHC boats that could be flown into theatre might be the only alternative.
Main image: (Left) The wounded USS Fitzgerald listing heavily limps into Yokosuka, Japan, June 2017 following a collision with a container ship which killed 7 sailors. She was repaired and returned to service at a cost totalling $500 Million. (Centre top) The former HMS Berkeley serving with the Greek navy since 2001 as HS Kallisto was cut in half and written off in a fortunately non-fatal collision with a containership off Piraeus in October 2020. (Centre Bottom: the moment HMS Chiddingfold struck HMS Bangor, Jan 2024. (Top right) USS San Francisco in dry dock following high-speed underwater collision with a sea mount that killed one and injured 98 submariners, Jan 2005. (Bottom right) HNoMS Helge Ingstad grounded and sinking following a collision with an oil tanker in November 2018.
Penzance Ship’s Company stand to stand to?
Royal Monty Python – ITS JUST A FLESH WOUND
Do royal navy ships still paint silhouettes if they sunk/damaged ships?
Honestly we’re looking at mechanical failure here? That’s a bloody long stretch given that after ANY level of work on engines or ships systems, a basin trial is REQUIRED, which includes operating all propulsion and steering systems in all reversionary and normal modes of operation. Then, prior to putting to sea SAFR cards are conducted, the final card includes DMEOs propulsion and steering checks, with shaft confidence checks.
So…….. Are we saying that the propulsion system passed all of these checks, but failed on both shafts (the video shows both shaft behaving the same) in the same manor at the same time?
Or that none of the checks were done? (I know MCM have a reputation for being pirates, but even they shouldn’t have gone that low)
Or maybe, just maybe the person using the throttles (power demand levels) could have gone the wrong way?
As for control lock up…….the Hunts are over 40 years old. That was an issue of the old MCAS system and Deltic engines…… This has northrup grumund PMS control system with Caterpillar engines, so very unlikely….. Also both engines together at the same time?
I can see some arse covering happening here and controls getting blamed, as its easier and no one looses face.
Thanks for that
The BOI report will be interesting. Lots of external factors aligning to make this happen as it did. A basin trial did happen
I assumed that it was the fault of the tug operators. (Link)
How can it be a fault of tug operators!?
Because there are two tugs on the port side. Why didn’t they pull the ship away? That’s what I was assuming.
Tugs do as they are instructed, it’s not up to them guess what’s going in and react. If they purposely drive chid into Bangor, then it’d be more likely their fault….. But not stopping something that happened quite fast isn’t their fault.
There are incidents and incidents, This one is particularly difficult to explain. How the propulsion system and controls were not checked?
No ‘major’ work is done to vessels alongside at HMS Jufair, it’s done at the repair facility ASRY. In my experience, I never once saw the RN mine hunter vessels use tugs to leave or get alongside..
So what am I saying? Nice try Navy Lookout
Not true.
There is no HMS Jufair.
Work on a lot of RN vessels is conducted alongside in UKNSF using FSU and external contractors be they UK or in Bahrain.
ASRY hasn’t worked on a UK MCMV for well over 12 months. That work has been done by the other local shipyard, BASREC of late. ASRY has been concentrating of USN units.
Vessels in ASRY do use tugs provided by ASRY especially when alongside on the berths at the slipway area.
In UKNSF its Bahrain port authority tugs that are used.
This gives an aerial view of the repair yard
https://www.asry.net/
Now do it for BASREC.
You can just make out the masts of the two tugs on the port side of Chiddingfold in the video. Their movements are also recorded on AIS.
There’s photos taken from the other side that show the tugs involved in the incident. Several people here have posted links to them.
HMS Bangor did not have a particularly good weekend.
No, it really doesn’t look good for her. It’s certainly one way to shutdown Sandown operations!
I think you can write off Bangor.
As to what happens to the hull it is actually quite hard to get rid of fibre reinforced plastic. It is a very robust building material, it might get brittle but otherwise it will last a long, long time.
You could find that this is quite an expensive accident to clean up.
Just grind it up and use it as a concrete additive
The glass fibres used in GRP production are a different composition to fibres intended for concrete re-inforcement and react badly when exposed to the PH values of concrete.
I dont know whats more embarrassing, the ships colliding or seeing that one ship is made of plywood. Wouldnt even need a torpedo to sink that, a spud gun would do it.
They are mine hunters, made from plastic and wood so not to detonate magnetic mines in their vicinity.
Are you alright?
You seem to not have processed anything that was written or understand the role of a MCM.
They are GRP ships with the internal fittings constructed from wood. It’s all about magnetic signature. The chidingfold is 40 years old…… Pretty good for any hull!
Made of very high quality resin, for the time.
There some ‘debates’ about timber being included under the fire glass layers, for stiffening, due to rotting risk. Actually it was more about shaping the fibreglass ribs so high density foam would have done. Also about attachment points.
I think the engine bolt downs were supposed to be to elm?
Some brighter spark thought carbon fibre, then v expensive, was a good idea until it was pointed out it was conductive.
I have worked doing maintenance and dockings on UK and US MCMVs. With the UK ones, both Hunts and Sandowns I have never seen rotten wood. The hulls when blasted are pristine with little if any osmosis even after decades of use.
USN vessels are all wood and there are usually patch repairs required of some description for rotted out areas in the deck or structure where water has gotten under the paint.
Hunts had hand lay up in the moulds, so the hulls are thick. Sandowns where vacuum SCRIM lay up so the hulls are thinner but of a more uniform thickness and have uniform resin depth through the layers of matting.
I think you will be surprised that a 12.7 mm machine gun can sink any surface combatant today if enough round fired. Or do you you think the hull thickness in them are more than 10mm?
Whether the event was due to a mechanical failure or a failure of seamanship (or it bit of both) it is highly embarrassing and requires a full investigation, not only of the event itself but also of the failures in management and training which allowed it to happen.
Very true, this incident should be thoroughly investigated and the results published.
Skimmers always let the RN down
*Cough* Tireless *cough* Superb *cough * Trafalgar *cough* Vanguard
All spring to mind 😉
Looks like a promotion to a desk simetime in the near future for the captain!!
So was it bodgit and scarpa doing the maintenance work or was it kaptin mohusband in charge ????????
Landlubber here, a ship would not intentionally move off at full speed ahead? In this case in reverse.
No, it would normally engage a fairly slow ahead speed to get going (more if wind or tide necessities), which is what may have happened here….. But in reverse.
As soon as the OOW realised they were going backwards, they may have increased the speed to attempt to move forwards and stop moving towards Bangor.
As a last resort a full ahead (or astern) order will be used to inform the SCC /MCR that there is an urgent situation and it should be obeyed to the fullest ability of the machinery.
If you watch the video, it does look like this sequence of events happened….. Just astern, not ahead.
Why is still for investigation……I obviously question the trials that should have unearthed and mechanical issues, but it’s still possible…… As is moving the levers the wrong way in a panic.
They are both possible.
Not related sorry but Naval News has an article on Norway seeks international partners for Future Frigate’ very interesting ! !
UK might be in the same Market….. soon.
Perhaps ship should be used by Reserves to intercept the amazingly large amounts of illegal agents and Military age males landing on UK beaches??
But we are not allowed to say such things nowadays…… people get all offended.
No, saying such things is just plain stupid. On what planet should military ships be attacking unarmed civilians crossing a sea? I mean if your on a page like this, I assume your broadly supportive of our forces and all the sacrifice they have made in the face of tyrants and dictators?
So in what way should the military and it’s ships be helping in your opinion? Or is it actually an ill considered remark steaming from a fear of immigrants stoked by a devisive media?
And the Offended have turned up !
If you’re seriously advocating shooting dinghies in the middle of the channel, you’re a rampant idiot. I don’t think it’s being offended to point that out.
And what would these Reserves in a old mine-warfare vessel do on this “intercept”
(a) machine-gun them to death – as has been suggested previously in comments here, a practice known internationally as “murder”
(b) push them back to France and risk infringing French territorial waters and a showdown with the French Navy
(c) rescue them and bring them to the U.K. shore for processing – as is done by Border Force.
BTW – they’re not all “military age males” nor are they “agents”. Are you one of those fantasists that thinks they’re an army being smuggled here by the WEF to launch a coup against HMG….?
There seem to be an alarming amount of alleged veterans and supporters who are calling for the murder of unarmed people at the moment.
Use of the term ‘fighting age male’ just means anyone from 18 to 50.
Personally I’d love to see less people crossing in boats….. It’s a sh***y way to get to the UK and there is more chance of going outside the law. I just wish the government had legitimate routes to apply outside of landing on beaches!
I’m glad you said “alleged veterans” as I would hope and expect any veterans to have higher ethics than to advocate murder.
Alas the use of the terms “fighting age male” and “agents” are common among conspiracy theorists who claim the WEF are trying to smuggle a foreign army into the U.K. These are the same people who believe 5G caused Corvid-19, that vaccines are bioweapons, and that Putin is civilisation’s saviour…
Agreed, for valid, legitimate asylum seekers better system is required. Those that do then seek to circumvent our borders can then be sent straight to detention camp and then deported.
Offended and deluded.
Think before you speak.
Thought, a concept alien to yourself.
France here.
@Владимир Темников Sean.
Your (b): Yeah! Trafalgar or Mers el Kebir all over again with a good chance for us to win!
Nah, I’m dreaming. Bad dream. Thanks anyway…
I think it’s safe to say that you have nothing to fear from the French Navy. Aren’t we allies? And what’s more, by the time our navy wakes up, you’ll be long gone. At most, there will be work for diplomats 3 months after the events. And then you risk nothing: our diplomacy is dead.
Russian sabir is not mine. It must be dangerous to point at it.
Military age males? Isn’t there a shortage at the moment? Sounds like a match made in heaven… already demonstrated resilience too! You’re a genius.
I think you can see the prop wash continuing going astern or maybe the Captain is a BMW owner.
Its not a collision as only one vessel was under way. Its an allision
Where was Commander Colin Hamilton? ;-D
All speculation as ever
& Now an ex-RN female (lezzie-look) ‘Captain’ has wrecked New Zealand’s survey ship Manawanui. Only loss since WW2. That’s 80 years. If there wasn’t something wrong with our people, there wouldn’t be as much wrong with our ships.