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Chapter Three Box
Submarines and Fishing Vessels.
1. A major effort has been made over the last two years to reduce the risk to fishing vessels from operations by dived submarines. The fouling of fishing nets by submarines is not common: there have been 11
confirmed cases in 10 years. But the sinking of the fishing vessel Antares
and the loss of her four man crew in an accident in the Clyde involving
HMS Trenchant in November 1990 - the first known incident of this kind
in which fishermen have died - gave added impetus to work to improve safety. The accident was thoroughly investigated by a Royal Naval Board of Inquiry, by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport and by the Fatal Accident Inquiry carried out by the Sheriff Principal of North Strathclyde; their recommendations have
been taken into account in this work. There has also been close
consultation with the representatives of fishermen's organisations,
including the Clyde Fishermen's Association in a sub-group of the Fishing
Industry Safety Group, chaired by the Department of Transport.
2.
Submarines need to be able to carry out dived operations in inshore
waters in peacetime so that they have the capability to operate safely and
effectively in shallow waters and to enter and leave our bases unseen in
wartime. The continuing relevance of this training is underlined by the deployment of our submarines to the South Atlantic in 1982 and as part of Operation GRANBY in 1990/91; deployment routes of our deterrent
submarines also need to remain covert at all times. Much of this
underwater activity must take place in the Clyde submarine exercise areas, because that is where our major submarine base is located and because large investments have been made there in the facilities needed to support submarine training. Nevertheless, the Navy has been able to reduce the
CONFIDENTIAL
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