Scandal-hit nuclear sub sees a QUARTER of its crew catch coronavirus after sailors breached rules to go boozing

Posted: 15th October 2020

From “the Sun”

DEEP TROUBLE 

EXCLUSIVE

• Jerome Starkey
• 13 Oct 2020, 22:46Updated: 13 Oct 2020, 22:46

A QUARTER of the crew of a scandal-hit nuclear sub have Covid-19 after sailors went boozing despite strict lockdown rules.

Those on the £3billion HMS Vigilant were under orders not to leave quarters at the Kings Bay US Navy base.

But they went to bars, restaurants and strip clubs, sources say, even though Georgia and neighbouring Florida are among the worst ­coronavirus-hit states in America.

They are said to have travelled as far as Florida’s Cocoa Beach, a 400-mile round trip from the base.

Chiefs had insisted overnight leave was to be denied during maintenance work on the Trident 2 weapons.

But at least 35 crew tested ­positive, including the doctor and executive officer, one of only two people with codes to fire the nukes.

A source said: “They have been alongside for weeks and sailors do what sailors do.”

A message sent to those manning another nuclear sub said the crew at Kings Bay had “breached their guidance and are now in the s*”.

The sailors decided to go to bars, restaurants and strip clubs

Vigilant was dubbed “HMS Sex and Cocaine” after scandals involving drugs and one that saw a captain and officer hauled off the ship for bonking female officers in 2017.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We do not comment on matters related to submarine operations.”