List of submarine and submersible incidents since 2000
Twenty-three survived in the stern of the submarine, but despite an international rescue effort, they died several days later either from a flash fire or suffocation due to a lack of oxygen.
The Russian Navy was severely criticised in its home country by family members of the deceased crew for failure to accept international help promptly.
On 9 February 2001, the American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally struck and sank a Japanese high-school fisheries training ship, Ehime Maru, killing nine of the thirty-five people aboard, including four students, 10 miles (16 km) off the coast of Oahu.
On 13 November 2002, USS Oklahoma City collided with the Leif Hoegh liquefied natural gas tanker Norman Lady, east of the Strait of Gibraltar.
No one on either vessel was hurt, and there were no leaks from fuel tanks and no threat to the environment, but the submarine sustained damage to her periscope and sail area, and put into La Maddalena, Sardinia, for repairs.
In November 2002, the Royal Navy's Trafalgar-class submarine, HMS Trafalgar, ran aground close to Skye, causing £5 million worth of damage to her hull and injuring three sailors.
It was travelling 50 metres (160 ft) below the surface at more than 14 knots (26 km/h) when Lieutenant-Commander Tim Green, a student in the Submarine Command Course, ordered a course change that took her onto the rocks at Fladda-chùain, a small but well-charted islet.
[4] On 12 February 2003, HMAS Dechaineux, a Collins-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was operating near her maximum safe diving depth off the coast of Western Australia when a seawater pipe burst.
[5] In May 2003, China announced that the entire ship's crew (70 people) had been killed aboard the Ming-class Great Wall submarine 361 due to a mechanical malfunction.
One officer, Canadian Forces Lieutenant(N) Chris Saunders, died the following day while he was being flown via helicopter to a hospital in Ireland.
[7] On 8 January 2005, the Los Angeles-class submarine USS San Francisco, while underway and submerged, collided with a seamount about 350 miles (560 km) south of Guam in the Marianas Islands.
One of her sailors, Machinist mate 2nd Class (MM2(SS)) Joseph Allen Ashley, of Akron, Ohio, died from the injuries he suffered in the collision.
On 5 August 2005, the Russian Priz-class deep-submergence rescue vehicle AS-28, while operating off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, became entangled in a fishing net, or possibly by cables belonging to an underwater antenna assembly, at a depth of 190 metres (620 feet).
After a multi-national effort, a British Royal Navy team using a Scorpio ROV was able to free the submarine from the entanglement, allowing it to return to the surface.
On 5 September 2005, USS Philadelphia was in the Persian Gulf about 30 nautical miles (60 km) northeast of Bahrain when she collided with the Turkish merchant ship MV Yasa Aysen.
On 6 September 2006, the Russian Victor III-class submarine Daniil Moskovsky suffered a fire which resulted in the deaths of two crewmen (a warrant officer and a sailor).
[11] Four crew members were washed overboard from USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul by heavy waves on 29 December 2006 in Plymouth Sound, England.
After the preliminary investigation, Commander Edwin Ruff received a punitive letter of reprimand, stating that the accident was avoidable, and he was reassigned to a shore-based post in Norfolk, Virginia.
[14] On 26 May 2008, the Royal Navy's Swiftsure-class submarine, HMS Superb hit an underwater rock pinnacle in the northern Red Sea, 80 miles (130 km) south of Suez, causing damage to sonar equipment.
[15][16] On 8 November 2008, at least 20 men died of asphyxiation from a gas leak on board the Russian nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa, during trials in the Sea of Japan.
[21] HMCS Corner Brook ran aground in Nootka Sound off the coast of Vancouver Island on 4 June 2011, while conducting SOCT (Submarine Officer Training Course).
The investigation revealed that the principal cause of the collision was human error, poor teamwork by Montpelier watch team, and the commanding officer's failure to follow established procedures for submarines operating at periscope depth.
[39][40] On 20 July 2016, while operating at periscope depth on a training exercise in the Strait of Gibraltar, HMS Ambush collided with a merchant ship, sustaining significant damage to the top of her conning tower.
Danish authorities believe its owner Peter Madsen allegedly scuttled the submarine to hide evidence in the murder of journalist Kim Wall.
[59][60] The submarine was declared sunk on 24 April, 18:00 (GMT+7) by Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Hadi Tjahjanto at a depth of 700–800 metres below sea level.
[61] At a press conference held on 25 April, the 53 crew were confirmed lost after the submarine was found at a depth of 839 metres (2,753 feet) below sea level by Indonesian navy ship KRI Rigel, broken up into three parts.
Communication was lost with the submersible 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the wreck site; authorities were notified when it did not resurface at its scheduled time later that day.
[69] On 13 September 2023, Russian Kilo-class submarine B-237 "Rostov-na-Donu" was hit by a missile during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, while docked at Sevastopol Shipyard in Crimea.
[70][71][72][73] The first of a new series of nuclear submarines of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), called the Zhou-class, is believed to have sunk alongside a pier in Wuhan between March and June 2024.
There was no confirmation of the sinking from Russia, although an alleged decoy was seen on satellite imagery, with what is believed to be the genuine submarine sunk and partially under a tarp nearby.
