Royal Navy captain smashes hole in warship causing £100,000 in damage

A ROYAL Navy captain smashed a hole in his warship, causing £100,000 in damage.

It was Lieutenant Commander Simon Reeves’ first try at docking HMS Chiddingfold in the dark.

Alamy

A rookie Royal Navy captain smashed a hole in a warship’s hull after crashing into another vessel as he tried to parallel park[/caption]

But his effort at parallel parking saw him twice hit another vessel.

Lt Cdr Reeves’ 200ft minesweeper — based in the Gulf — will be out of action for months having repairs, sources said.

The prang came less than a week after the experienced officer, from Shropshire, took over the Hunt-class minesweeper at the UK naval base in Bahrain.

A source said: “He slammed her into reverse, but it was too late. Chiddingfold’s side hit HMS Penzance.

“She swung out and hit her again.”

There were two deafening bangs as the impacts tore a hole in 700-ton HMS Chiddingfold’s plastic hull.

A Navy official blamed the March 16 incident on “wind, tide and equipment failure”.