Images shared to social media from Scotland purport to show a nuclear submarine with smoke billowing from its tower in Helensburgh, Scotland. There has been no official confirmation of a fire.
Twitter users speculated that the submarine was on fire while sharing images of the boat flanked on all sides by tugboats.
Others suggested that the smoke might be a sign of the Royal Navy’s switch over from diesel engines to nuclear ones on its submarine fleet.
Out on a recce from Garelochhead to Helensburgh… can’t see the the sub or it’s flotilla, possibly heading out to sea or #LochGoil could the smoke reported to us be the ‘switch over’ from diesel to nuclear @Nuclearinfo#Submarine#Clydepic.twitter.com/B4LItAduV0
The submarine is likely based at Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Clyde, located at Faslane on the Gare Loch, near the town of Helensburgh.
The base is the Royal Navy’s headquarters in Scotland and houses the UK’s nuclear arsenal on board its submarine fleet armed with Trident missiles.
Soon after the initial slew of reports of a possible fire, The Royal Navy reportedly confirmed the submarine was carrying out a “cold move” in which the vessel is moved around a harbor but without the use of its own propellers.
The smoke was merely the result of the boat’s diesel engines firing up and running normally.
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