‘It just went plop’: British nuclear missile test off Florida coast failed, report says

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Rumors of a botched submarine missile test off the Florida coast have British military officials on the defense.

The Sun newspaper reported Tuesday that the incident happened on Jan. 30 off the state’s Atlantic coast. The submarine was spotted leaving Cape Canaveral that morning.

Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, of the Conservative party, was on board the HMS Vanguard to watch the test firing of a missile designed to carry nuclear warheads. In a statement, Shapps declined to provide details about the incident in the interest of “protecting national security.”

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The Vanguard crew was test-launching an unarmed Trident II D5 missile as part of its “planned deep maintenance period” when the projectile “was propelled into the air,” an anonymous military source said, according to The Sun.

Officials intended for the dummy missile to fly about 3,700 miles across the Atlantic before splashing down about halfway between Brazil and the western coast of Africa. It didn’t get very far.

“It left the submarine but it just went plop, right next to them,” the source told the newspaper.

The Ministry of Defense confirmed that an “anomaly″ occurred, but said the test “reaffirmed the effectiveness of the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent.″ The incident was “event specific” and is not a reflection of the military’s nuclear readiness, Shapps said.

“The government has absolute confidence that the UK’s deterrent remains effective, dependable, and formidable,” Shapps wrote in a statement.

John Healey, the opposition Labour Party’s spokesman on defense issues, said reports of the test failure were “concerning.”

“The defense secretary will want to reassure Parliament that this test has no impact on the effectiveness of the U.K.’s deterrent operations,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

The HMS Vanguard is one of the U.K.’s four Vanguard-class submarines, which provide Britain’s nuclear deterrent by ensuring that one of the vessels is constantly at sea. The nuclear-powered submarines, twice the length of a Boeing 747, carry Trident 2 D5 nuclear missiles, which are also used by the U.S. Navy.

The Trident, made by U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, is a ballistic missile that can be fired at targets up to 4,000 miles (about 6,437 kilometers) away. The missiles are ejected from the submarine by high-pressure gas before the solid-fuel motors ignite as they reach the surface of the water.

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The January incident wasn’t the first time a U.K. Trident missile test went awry. In 2016, the military had to destroy a missile that was propelled off course toward the United States, rather than its intended target near Africa.

The Jan. 30 test launch was the British Navy’s first attempt since the 2016 incident. The submarine spent seven years undergoing maintenance ahead of the launch, according to The Sun.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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