Video shows a collision between two Royal Navy vessels in the Gulf.

The information that came to me earlier today, roughly outlined, was that HMS Chiddingfold has collided with HMS Bangor.

I reached out to the Ministry of Defence for comment and confirmation, however, video has now surfaced of the incident, confirming it happened.

As of now, there are no reports of any injuries resulting from the collision. The Royal Navy is expected to provide details on the incident and the condition of the ships and personnel involved in due course. I spoke to someone earlier today, before the videos surfced, that informed me that teams are being sent to assess the damage and establish a plan of action for rectification works.

Imagery of the damage was published by fillyourboots on Twitter.

Minehunters like HMS Chiddingfold are designed to excel in mine hunting and coastal patrols, safeguarding the seas and ensuring maritime security. These small, but extremely effective Mine Counter Measure Vessels (MCMVs) boast glass-reinforced plastic hulls to conceal their presence from the threat of sea mines. Their sonars are capable of detecting and classifying an object the size of a football up to 1,000 metres away, allowing them to clear the way of mines and allow safe passage for larger forces to pass through.

The Ministry of Defence will likely conduct a comprehensive investigation to understand the cause of the collision and the extent of the damage sustained by the vessels.

A Royal Navy Spokesperson said:

“We are aware of an incident concerning two Minehunters alongside in Bahrain. There are no casualties as a result of this incident and it would be inappropriate to comment further whilst investigations are ongoing.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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132 COMMENTS

  1. Hmmmmm ….Hats on no coffee moment.
    There’s a chap locally in Pembroke Dock who could patch them up no problem 😊

  4. Checking online for info about this incident I found plenty of news reports from 2021 about the same ship colliding with another vessel while trying to park. Then commanded by a Lt Cdr Reeves while attempting his first parallel park in the dark. I wonder who’s in charge this time?

  6. If these manoeuvres are difficult why wouldn’t one or more tugs be used to get it done safely?

    I’m not suggesting an Admiral K style tug your unserviceable carrier about rather typical tug use for harbour manoeuvres..

    Surely a modest expense compared to flying repair specialists on scene and the unpredictable cost of repair..

  7. Bumps a daisy. Not sure how that hole is going to be repaired. Not even sure if the repair could be done in that part of the world. As for the skipper, unless there was a mechanical fault he or she will never command again.

      • Ohhh….I am a slave!
        I will consider that when I receive my Tax-free wage packet in a couple of days time.
        Perhaps you are referring to the other Ship Repair company who is not far from UKNSF

          • The lads still do. The stuff some of the ships ditch is unbelievable. Recent visitor emptied there dry provisions store. Unopened 1/2 litre pots of spices, sauces, bags of rice. The lads had the lot

          • Estimate £25m to repair? HMS Chiddingfold relatively undamaged, & a wiring issue. HMS Bangor most of that sum then, understandably. But if that’s mostly the cost of repairing a hole in a glass fibre hull, plus some etc. I’m beginning to think £100m ‘not too bad’ for a Type 23! We sure these estimates are no exaggeration?

          • Bangor…Hmmm…wont be 25mil…She is due to go soon if its up in that level of cost they would scrap it and spend the money elsewhere on Harrier for MCMV

  8. “With Penzance just gone, we can’t decommission another minehunter without getting the new Castles in the water. The press are starting to ask questions.”

    “But there aren’t enough autonomous replacements and no RFA to crew the new motherships. We’ll just have to tell the press we can’t comment on our MCM capabilities for security reasons.”

    “Even the opposition aren’t going to swallow that one for much longer. I suppose there’s no alternative.”

    “Hold on, chaps. I have a cunning plan….”

  9. Got sent some pictures of this earlier, it didn’t really matter when we had loads of them but now it might be a bit tricky to ‘one for one’ them.

    Reminds me of the Christmas card we got at Commcen Pitreavie (as was) from HMS Brecon that made the headlines for running aground, something along the lines of ‘Make like the Brecon this Christmas… get smashed’. I think it made the papers. 😂

  12. There must have been a mechanical or something…I can’t believe a captain would not notice the ship there, and its travelling so quickly, I thought the video was sped up at the beginning. I think somethings stuck at full revs.

    • As an ex Chid crew helmsman position starboard side bridge looking forward on his left hand side are the Bow thruster lever and engine rev counter the ship was going astern rather quickly and couldn’t see if the Bow thruster was in use too Swing the Bow round someone’s not going to be in the Kings birthday honours list

  14. I watched the video first and thought that’s a big crunch. Someone order some sheets of fibre glass and phone gunbuster

  20. I watched the vid in disbelief. That vessel is going astern at some speed. What was he trying to do? Don’t they have lookouts these days?

  25. The Sun reports that “Sailors are battling to stop warship from sinking”…. I was expecting a different headline along the lines of… “Royal Navy Battleship rams State of the art Destroyer”……

  29. Unbelievable. Clearly enough crew on board for someone to notice.
    But the bigger lesson is that we have no reserves. Any ship/ boat damaged cannot be replaced. A new build replacement would take years.

  30. Who’s the Daddy !!!! for a 40 year old she can still rear end any competition looks like Bangor will be on this month’s disposal list change her pennant number and swap her with one sold to Ukraine

  31. Think this must have been a mechanical failure, you can clearly hear someone call “full ahead” at the beginning of the video, but the ship continues with full astern even after the collision.

    • Will fail Upwards and given a draft to Dartmouth Navigation and seamanship teaching the future OOWs on how not to come alongside

  41. Well thats one guy who USED to be a Captain that has a lot of explaining as to how he managed to hit the other ship lololol

  43. Take the blind idiots in charge of these boats (they aren’t big enough to be ships), get them to do the repairs personally paying out of their own pockets then dismiss them with no pension or redundancy for total incompetence

  44. Apparently rewiring of Fwd and reverse control meant Fullahead was Full astern and vice versa oh what a wheeze why wasn’t work done not inspected ?

      • Today’s daily telegraph stated the same explanation taken from of all papers The Guardian nough said on that story then .

        • I was over there yesterday and got something of a low down on it. There are a long, long list of issues that added up to the “Swiss Cheese, All the holes all align” moment.

          The BOI will be an interesting read.

          • Flown out too conduct enquiry, rather than in house will show how much the issue of local contractors working on MOD property rather than if it still exists FMG mobile is value for money . Who ever signed off on completion of work has some explaining too do .

  45. I honestly though that Fibreglass on ships hulls, was a thing of the past. And then £25million worth of damage done… by a fibreglass ship crushing another fibreglass ship… the mind truly boggles.

    • Non magnetic Hms Wilton ton class minesweeper was the first with such a low magnetic signature production was ramped up for the Hunt and then Sandowns I did feel safe clearing minefields which had all manner of minetypes during OP Granby not one Hunt was damaged throughout the Conflict

      • Monty python moment,”you lucky, lucky,bstd. Weird that Chid had to ram Banger’*and totally miss the jetty. Anyhoo, somebody’s for the bin.🙃🕳️ back to me hole😊

        • Bangor has a TV sized hole patch her up with masking tape We sold Hms Berkeley another hunt to the Greeks she got sliced completely in two and remained afloat the press are making such a big deal just super glue it back in place and repaint her or put a double glazed window in with curtains (for darken ship) job done

  47. Hate to rain on this but as an ex mariner it was NOT two vessels colliding. One of the vessels was securely alongside with a gangway out so it was the inept handling one ONE vessel colliding into another.

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