Nine service personnel on a nuclear submarine have been discharged from the Royal Navy after testing positive for drugs.
Compulsory drugs tests on HMS Vigilant – one of four Vanguard Class submarines which maintain the UK’s nuclear deterrent – produced nine positive results, leading to nine individuals being discharged.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We do not tolerate drugs misuse by service personnel. Those found to have fallen short of our high standards face being discharged from service.”
(Steve Parsons/PA)
The Daily Mail reported that the drug detected by the tests was cocaine.
The submarine has recently been embroiled in controversy over allegations of an onboard relationship between a male and female.
Earlier this month, the Daily Mirror reported that the MoD was probing an “inappropriate relationship” between crew members and that the captain of the vessel had been relieved of his duties pending the outcome.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We can confirm an investigation is under way, but it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage. Any allegations of wrongdoing are taken very seriously and will be dealt with appropriately.”
Commander Sarah West. (David Cheskin/PA)
There are strict Royal Navy rules about relationships on board vessels.
In 2014, the first female commander of a frontline warship in the history of the Royal Navy left her vessel amid claims she had had an affair with a shipmate.
Commander Sarah West, who denied the relationship, was “removed from command” of the Type 23 frigate HMS Portland and re-appointed to another post.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel