HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant submarine collision across the seabed". However, a government spokesman said that there "was no compromise to nuclear safety". Hervé Morin, France's Minister of Defence, said that they "face an extremely simple technological problem, which is that these submarines are not detectable". 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
Free French Naval Forces 1940. The then-largest submarine in the world, , which had sought refuge in Portsmouth in June 1940 following the German invasion of France, resisted the British operation. In capturing the submarine, two British officers and one French sailor were killed. Other ships were the two obsolete battleships and , the destroyers and , eight torpedo boats, five submarines (, ) and a number of other smaller vessels. As soon as the summer 1940, the submarines "Minerve" and "Junon", as well as four avisos, departed from Plymouth. Towards the end of 1940, the destroyers "Le Triomphant" and "Léopard" followed. "Le Triomphant"