UK, French submarines may have suffered greater damage

London, Feb. 19 (ANI): The British and French nuclear missile-carrying submarines that collided earlier this month in the Atlantic Ocean may have hit each other several times causing greater damage.

A French regional daily newspaper, Ouest France, claimed that the French vessel, with an arsenal 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, suffered much more serious damage than officials have admitted.

Le Triomphant is currently moored at its base of l'Ile Longue, near Brest in Brittany, where its conning tower and the starboard sail plane attached to the conning tower are visibly deformed by the incident, the Scotsman reports.

Earlier, the Royal and French navies had said that the two submarines, HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant, 'briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged'.

The French Navy announced the damage to Le Triomphant was limited to the glass and composite domed structure that houses its Thales sonar at the tip of her bow.

On Thursday, it was disclosed that at least three separate parts Le Triomphant's structure suffered significantly greater damage from the collision.

However, HMS Vanguard was reportedly seen returning to base at Faslane with scrapes and dents to her hull.

Vanguard is one of Britain's four V-Class subs forming our Trident nuclear deterrent. Each is armed with 16 ballistic missiles. (ANI)