http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7892294.stm
Nuclear subs collide in Atlantic
A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, the MoD has confirmed.
prob on the wrong side… 
Like a bullet hitting a bullet…
This doesnt surprise me very much, subs follow each other all the time, its their job. And as quiet as they have become, it is a good thing brushing incidents arent more frequent. In America in the early automobile days, there were only 19 cars in the whole of the U.S. and 2 of them managed to collide.
Ummm… These are ballistic missile submarines, each at the time representing it’s country’s sole deterrent force, so if one was following the other the captain was being just a bit naughty! And I don’t buy a chance hit by the way - the operational areas may be fairly small, but they aren’t all that small.
Oh, and given that the Triomphant’s sonar dome was destroyed by hitting Vanguard and they thought they had hit a submerged container, yet the British knew exactly what had hit them it’s fairly obvious who was following who. It also says something about the relative merits of UK and French submarines.
True as you say,and odd that one missile boat would track another.Someone isnt coming clean, to have such an interest in such a small piece of ocean must mean there is something there that draws their attention. Almost sounds like a game of chicken, or who’s is bigger, or something, I think they were both heading for the Octopuses’ garden
That’s what I thought…
Why would two missile “boomers” being tracking each other?
I can’t be bothered to research, but is France coordinating its military ops with NATO on a formal basis still?
Not sure, but SSBNs are NOT part of that process for definate.
I never belive they can collide with each other “accidentally”
Probably the two submarines have been involved in a tactical maneuvreus as in a part of common war game.
Most likely they “hunted” each other ( as it often happend during the Cold war between SU and US submarines)
Lot of talk on this on some veterans sites.
The boats were attempting tracking each other.
Luckily they were at relatively slow speed.
The commanders probably will not be driving any more subs.
Care to share links?
Plenty out there - http://www.arrse.co.uk is a good example. However, those on them will be speculating just as much as you or I - those who do know will never, ever break OPSEC and discuss it. The discussion on Rum Ration can be found here, and is distinctly unilluminating (if funny).
Strange stuff indeed. If it wasnt a pure accident, then dicking around in Missile boats is supposed to be a real no goer. I would imagine standard practice would be to avoid and turn away from any contact whatsoever.
Someone will be in trouble for this for sure.