Back in April 2015, newspaper headlines in Britain screamed with hysteria that a fishing boat had almost sunk to the bottom of the sea after a 'collision with a Russian submarine' in the Irish Sea.
It was claimed that a Russian submarine had crashed with fishing trawler, Karen, dragging it backwards after its nets became entangled with the submarine, according to a fisherman’s organization.
MoD confirms that a British sub damaged a fishing trawler it dragged through the Irish Sea. http://t.co/pm2BStI6M0 pic.twitter.com/uKr0L1SNdX
— The Real Navy (@GreyFunnelLine) September 8, 2015
In a dramatic recount of the event, crew members said they scrambled to release the wires connected to the trawler which "had been moving slowly forward but was suddenly sent careering backwards through the water".
The vessel returned to Ardglass where the scene was described as a "B***** mess" amid claims that "something like this would never happen involving a British submarine due to Royal Navy protocols".
Ardglass fishing representative Dick James said at the time:
"You cannot always prevent it but if an accident like this did happen the (Royal Navy) protocols said that the submarine would immediately surface to check on the health and welfare of the people involved and this one did not."
And the ill-mannered submarine didn’t go unnoticed in the local fishing community. Sinn Fein Northern Ireland Assembly member Chris Hazzard said the community was angry.
