Royal Navy admits Irish Sea submarine incident

Royal Navy admits Irish Sea submarine incident

THE Ministry of Defence is to confirm shortly that a Royal Navy submarine was responsible for a terrifying incident in the Irish Sea in April which almost cost four fishermen their lives.

An Ardglass-based trawler fishing near the Isle of Man was dragged violently backwards at speed after snagging its nets, with the only the quick-thinking actions of skipper Paul Murphy (right) saving the lives of those on board. The Karen, which sustained damage estimated in the region of £20,000, was trawling for prawns when the incident took place.

A NATO exercise was taking place in northern Scotland at the time of the incident and there was speculation that a Russian submarine on a spying mission may have been responsible for snagging the nets of the Ardglass trawler.

However, the Ministry of Defence will confirm shortly in a House of Commons statement that it was a Royal Navy trawler which was involved in the incident involving the Ardglass trawler.

Following the incident, the skipper of the Ardglass vessel said he had no doubt a submarine had got caught up in his nets and that he and his crew were lucky to survive the terrifying incident.

Mr Murphy said what started out as a routine trip in poor weather conditions ended with the crew trawling in flat calm conditions before the 75 foot long vessel was literally “stopped in its tracks” and violently dragged backwards at a speed of 10 knots.

He added: “What happened was terrifying and we are lucky to have survived to tell our story. If this incident had happened during rough weather or when the crew was sleeping, we would not have survived.”