Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

An unhappy submarine

A sailor on the HMS Astute, the Royal Navy’s newest submarine, opened fire with an automatic weapon in the sub’s control room on Friday, killing its weapons engineering officer and wounding a second sailor. A fast-thinking local politician who was present for a tour wrestled the gunman to the deck and pushed away the weapon. ...

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Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

A sailor on the HMS Astute, the Royal Navy's newest submarine, opened fire with an automatic weapon in the sub's control room on Friday, killing its weapons engineering officer and wounding a second sailor. A fast-thinking local politician who was present for a tour wrestled the gunman to the deck and pushed away the weapon.  

A sailor on the HMS Astute, the Royal Navy’s newest submarine, opened fire with an automatic weapon in the sub’s control room on Friday, killing its weapons engineering officer and wounding a second sailor. A fast-thinking local politician who was present for a tour wrestled the gunman to the deck and pushed away the weapon.  

Awhile back the sub’s skipper was relieved after the boat ran aground off Scotland. Reminds me of the losing streak the USS Greenville had a few years ago.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1
Tags: Britain, Military

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