HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant submarine collision HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant submarine collision The submarines HMS "Vanguard" and "Triomphant" collided in the Atlantic Ocean in the night between 3–4 February 2009. Both are nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. The Royal Navy's and the French Navy's both sustained damage, but no injuries or radioactivity releases were reported. At the time of the collision, both vessels were submerged and, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, moving "at very low speed"; both are equipped with active and passive sonar, although only the latter is used on an operational patrol. HMS "Vanguard" was on a routine patrol in the Eastern
French destroyer Le Triomphant "Triomphant" reached San Diego on 25 August. She departed on 5 September bound for Honolulu, which she reached on 15 September, and Papeete on 23 September. In December 1941, she escorted the troopship SS "Ormiston" from Sydney to Nouméa. In late February 1942, as a Japanese invasion of Nauru and Ocean Island was feared, "Le Triomphant" departed the New Hebrides to evacuate the part of their population that would be at risk under Japanese invasion. She arrived on 23 February on Nauru, taking aboard 61 Europeans, 391 Chinese and 49 military personnel. Then she headed to Ocean Island, 300 km