# Sub sinks trawler by dragging it below surface?



## Cloud Cover (24 Mar 2005)

BBC NEWS
French trawler 'was sunk by sub'
Marine accident experts investigating the sinking of a French trawler off the English coast last year have said the accident was caused by a submarine.

Five French trawlermen drowned when the Bugaled Breizh went down off the Lizard peninsula in January 2004.

At the time, a Nato exercise was underway involving the Dutch submarine the Dolfijn.

The Dutch embassy in Paris says the Dolfijn was at least 15km away at the time of the accident.

But marine accident experts, commissioned to investigate by the families of the Bugaled Breizh crew and the Guilvinec fishermen's committee, say the vessel was pulled under by a submarine.

Dragged down

At a news conference on Thursday, they said a submarine could have caught the trawler cable in its rudder or propeller which could have dragged down the back of the trawler.

"The trawler rears up immediately and sinks from the back end very quickly," they said.

"The submarine can resume its course without too much damage and furthermore the accident goes unnoticed by most of the crew."

This theory has always been denied by the Sea Accident Investigation Office.

The French news agency AFP reports that the experts did not have access to the wreck of the Bugaled Breizh.

In the meantime, official technical and judicial inquiries are being carried out into the accident.

But the Brest-based experts added in their report that other explanations were technically possible, including a collision with a rock or underwater wreck or equipment failure.

"While nothing can be formally proved, and nothing in the judicial file implicates any person in particular, I have the intimate conviction that the Bugaled Breizh was pulled down by a submarine," one of the experts said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4378899.stm

Published: 2005/03/24 16:45:47 GMT

© BBC MMV

__________________________________________

Wouldn't a little DE "feel" that?


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## Navalsnpr (25 Mar 2005)

Interesting article... Surprised that it took this long to surface in the media.


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## Fishbone Jones (25 Mar 2005)

Okay, I'm not in the Navy, but I expect if a trawler cable/ net got caught in a sub prop, and pulled an ocean going trawler under, it would have totally screwed the subs propulsion system. If not torn the screw off completely.



			
				whiskey601 said:
			
		

> Marine accident experts investigating the sinking of a French trawler off the English coast last year have




Probably poaching anyway.


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## Slim (25 Mar 2005)

The one that got away! ;D


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## Ex-Dragoon (25 Mar 2005)

> Okay, I'm not in the Navy, but I expect if a trawler cable/ net got caught in a sub prop, and pulled an ocean going trawler under, it would have totally screwed the subs propulsion system. If not torn the screw off completely.



Well if the cable got caught on the diving planes, sail, or the fin why would it screw up the propulsion system?


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## Navalsnpr (25 Mar 2005)

As well, most upper casings on a submarine have holes in it to allow water to migrate in and out. If there were any types of hooks on the trawler gear, that to could get caught.


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## Good2Golf (25 Mar 2005)

Big shark? ???


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## aesop081 (25 Mar 2005)

Maybe its a new "bermuda triangle" developing off the english coast ?


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## Cloud Cover (25 Mar 2005)

Sponge Bob?


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## Gunner (25 Mar 2005)

This happened with the US Navy a couple of years ago.  They took out a Japanese fishing boat.


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## aesop081 (25 Mar 2005)

Gunner said:
			
		

> This happened with the US Navy a couple of years ago.   They took out a Japanese fishing boat.



Yeah, one of the LA class boats surfaced and in the process cut a japanese fishing trawler in 2.... It didnt drag it down as is alledged in this case.


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## Marty (25 Mar 2005)

Mabey Nessie got un loched


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## FredDaHead (25 Mar 2005)

What puzzles me is what was a trawler doing in the middle of a NATO exercise? I thought military ships broadcast some type of message to tell civvy ships to get the hell away?


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## Kirkhill (25 Mar 2005)

Forgetting all the fun and frivolity on this subject momentarily this is not an unusual occurence.

The Firth of Clyde is the body of salt water at the estuary that leads up to Gareloch, Holy Loch and Faslane.  Homes of US and UK nuclear subs and the UK sub-fleet in general.  The Firth used to be heavily fished by small trawlers as well as being heavily trafficed by other surface vessels.

Many trawlermen have reported incidents that they believed involved submarines, some involving trawlers being dragged under, and my faulty memory has difficulty separating rumour from truth but I seem to recall officially credited incidents.


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## Fishbone Jones (25 Mar 2005)

Ex-Dragoon:

Was simply asking a question based on the article:

"At a news conference on Thursday, they said a submarine could have caught the trawler cable in its rudder *or propeller * which could have dragged down the back of the trawler."


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## Michael Dorosh (25 Mar 2005)

Navalsnipr said:
			
		

> Interesting article... Surprised that it *took this long to surface* in the media.



Booooo...hisssssss.........


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## Navalsnpr (25 Mar 2005)

Honestly... when I posted that, there was no pun intended!


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## aesop081 (25 Mar 2005)

Navalsnipr...no excuses...way too coincidental !


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## mainerjohnthomas (29 Mar 2005)

This is not the only time that Canadian fisheries disputes have lead to gunboat diplomacy.  Does anyone else remember when the French sent a nuclear submarine to back its fishermen in the dispute between St Pierre and Michalon islands (French territory inside Canadian waters off the maritimes) and Canada?  Its fun to laugh at the Spanish Navy, but the French are not a force we can take as lightly.  People in Canad seem to think that there is no real requirement to defend Canadian soveriegnty off our own coastlines, but when it has counted, the ony Navy willing to shoot to enforce our laws is our own.  Our "Noble Allies" tend to limit themselves to sending notes, and making press releases.  The Canadian Navy has a real task on our coast, one the coast guard cannot do, and the Canadian public neither knows, nor cares.  Tha Canadian politicians know, and still don't care.


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## Ex-Dragoon (29 Mar 2005)

I recall an additional OPV being deployed and talk of a frigate being sent but never an SSN.


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## Cloud Cover (29 Mar 2005)

Would have been a waste of a lot of good loaves of bread ...


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