On February 21, the British Royal Navy was once again in an awkward position, and their nuclear submarine test launch of the Trident II submarine-launched ICBM ended in failure again, already for the second time in a row! This astonishing news was first shocked by The Sun** and shocked the world.
According to reports, the British Royal Navy nuclear submarine "Vanguard" conducted a "Trident II" missile launch exercise in the waters off Florida in the United States, however, after the missile was launched, the first stage of thruster failed to ignite, causing the missile's huge body weighing 58 tons (loaded with a fake warhead) to crash directly into the sea. Like a tragedy, as soon as the missile left the submarine, it was powerless to fall and could only make waves on the surface of the sea.
What is even more shocking is that this test launch failure actually happened when the Secretary of State for Defense, Grant Shapps, and the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Benkey, were both on submarines! Just imagine the panic and helplessness at that time, their mood can be imagined. The "Vanguard" nuclear submarine, which is trying to demonstrate the country's maritime deterrent power, has such a big omission at this critical moment is undoubtedly a serious mistake of the British Navy!
In response to the failure of the test, the British Ministry of Defense issued a statement claiming that the Pioneer and its crew are fully capable of operating the UK's maritime deterrent, but the anomalies in the test are incident-specific and do not affect the reliability of the wider Trident missile system and stockpile. But it remains to be seen whether such an explanation will dispel public concerns.
And this is not the only embarrassing experience for the Royal Navy in recent times. Not so long ago, the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier was scheduled to participate in NATO's "Steadfast Defender 2024" exercise, but was unable to travel due to serious mechanical problems. Over the past few days, the British Navy has suffered frequent technical failures that have raised questions about the reliability of its naval forces.
This series of unexpected events has undoubtedly cast a shadow over the image of the British Royal Navy, and also cast doubt on its future performance. For a naval power with a long history and a reputation as the world's leading naval force, such a streak of failures is simply unacceptable.
Perhaps, this incident will prompt the British Navy to review its own training and management system, and strengthen the inspection and maintenance of equipment to avoid similar incidents from happening again. And in the process, the public will also pay closer attention to the power of the navy, after all, security is no small matter, both for the country and for everyone.