The supply of fuel rods on board the HMS Ambush is sufficient for an expected service life of 25 years. Since the submarine also has water and air purification systems, it can circle the earth without any problems without surfacing. The limiting factor, however, is food, which is sufficient for a maximum of three months.
The submarine can carry up to 38 weapons, which can be fired through the six torpedo tubes . It is equipped with ninth generation stealth technology and is therefore almost undetectable by sensors. The noise level is also lower than that of a young dolphin . The HMS Ambush has a Sonar 2076 from the Thales Group with which it can still detect and clearly classify ships at 3,000 nautical miles .
collision
On July 20, 2016 at 1.30 p.m. local time during an exercise in the Strait of Gibraltar, the surfaced HMS Ambush collided with the tanker MV Andreas , causing the submarine significant damage to the tower, which amounted to a total of 2.1 Million pounds . The damage was limited to the outer shell and the nuclear reactor remained undamaged. The crew was also uninjured. The tanker, which was just refueling a container ship , not only remained undamaged, the collision was initially not even noticed. The Ambush was towed into the port of Gibraltar for further investigation .
Commandant Commander Justin Codd pleaded guilty to a military tribunal in early 2018 for causing the accident. As a punishment, he was stripped of one year of seniority .
literature
Garant Verlag GmbH (Ed.): U-Boats. History of the submarines , January 15, 2017 Renningen, ISBN 978-3-7359-1338-8 , p. 175
