Official documents about a £1.3 billion Royal Navy ‘nuclear submarine’ were reportedly discovered on the floor of a Wetherspoons toilet cubicle.
It’s understood that the files holding data about HMS Anson, dubbed by the Government as one of the most sophisticated underwater vessels ever built, were left in the toilets of The Furness Railway in Barrow, Cumbria.
A newspaper outlet claimed that the documents showed the inner workings of the submarine and were used by submariners learning how to isolate and depressurise elements of its system.
However, the Royal Navy has said the papers were generic resources and didn’t include any classified information.
A source told a newspaper outlet the documents didn’t contain data detailed about the submarine.
According to a newspaper outlet, the pub was packed when the files, marked ‘official sensitive’, were found on the floor of a cubicle.
A source told the outlet that it was quite a lively night. The pub was full of people from the docks, military and civilians. That they went to the toilet and the plans were laying on the floor of the cubicle with a lanyard, and anyone could have found them.
The Furness Railway is a short distance from a BAE systems shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, where the submarine has previously been pictured.
Named after Admiral George Anson, HMS Anson is the fifth of the new Astute-class attack submarines to join the Royal Navy fleet.
The vessels are capable of firing tomahawk missiles and are described as the ‘largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarine’ ever employed in the navy on its website.
Powered by a Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor, the boat can also operate for 25 years without refuelling.
When the submarine left Barrow-in-Furness for sea trials in Clyde in February, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that HMS Anson would play a vital role in defending the United Kingdom, providing a competitive edge for decades to come, and he was proud to see her make her journey up to her permanent home on the Clyde.
And that supporting tens of thousands of jobs across the United Kingdom, our Astute-Class submarines were a leading example of their commitment to defence manufacturing, continuing to boost British industry for decades to come.
A naval source said that these documents enable submariners and contractors to understand how systems interact. They don’t detail how they work, just that they exist.
But it’s no surprise to learn that Government officials have been handing around top secret papers in the toilets of Wetherspoons – probably trying to flog them for a pint of Stella. Or even more alarming, if something like that was left behind, was it left behind for a reason?
This Government have been the greatest menace to national security since WWII and you couldn’t make this up if you tried, it’s unbelievable that classified documents of this importance are allowed to be taken off base or out of a Ministry of Defence office.
This must have been a classified document and should have been graded as ‘restricted’, but what’s even more worrying is that it could have been some kind of espionage exchange gone bad, although it does note that they were generic documents, but who knows because the Royal Navy is clearly going to play down their importance.
People that operate in and around defence work all come under the Official Secrets Act no matter what – this could generate some humiliation, but then there’s an abundance of that within our Government anyhow.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 