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The grounding of the £1.2 billion Astute hunter-killer comes at the end of a dire week for the Royal Navy which has seen its carrier force halved, Harrier jump jets axed and warship force reduced by almost a quarter. It is understood that the boat, which is first in its class, ran aground by its stern in a manoeuvre that “went slightly wrong” after it had dropped some sailors ashore in tidal waters off the Isle of Skye. As the tide rapidly ebbed it is thought the skipper of Astute, Commander Andy Coles, decided not to power it off the...

Nine Million Gallon Fuel Tanker Runs Aground In Canada Gus Lubin Sep. 2, 2010, 4:14 PM Canadian Coast Guard says 9 million gallon fuel tanker has run aground in the northwest passage, reports CBC. Another disaster? Intial reports say no oil is leaking: "The coast guard ship Henry Larsen has just entered the area. I believe it's at anchor just off of Gjoa Haven as we speak," Larry Trigatti, an environmental response official with the coast guard, told CBC News on Thursday afternoon. "It's monitoring the situation by helicopter. As you can imagine, there are some shoals in the area,...

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- A cruise ship ran aground off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska early Monday, and over 200 passengers and crew members are being evacuated, U.S. TV networks reported. The accident took place off Alaska's eastern peninsula near Juneau, CNN quoted Coast Guard officials as saying. The Coast Guard has sent a cutter and a helicopter to the scene, and has asked all boats nearby to help evacuate the 281 passengers and crew, Fox News reported. Dozens of people have been rescued from the 110-meter-long Empress of the North, the report said. The ship,...

Fri Apr 9, 3:50 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - A brand-new British naval ship saw action rather sooner than expected as it shot across a river after being launched and crunched into the opposite bank. The 16,000-tonne amphibious landing vessel was left with a sizeable dent in its stern after grazing a quayside on the north bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland, just seconds after it was launched. The incident came two days after it was revealed that eight of the Royal Air Force's Chinook helicopters had been grounded because they were not equipped to fly in cloudy...