HMS Astute is in Southampton on a “goodwill” visit A Royal Navy sailor is being questioned on suspicion of murder after a shooting on board a nuclear submarine that left a crewman dead and another injured.
HMS Astute was docked in Southampton on a “goodwill” visit when the shooting began on Friday afternoon.
The crewman who died has been named locally as Lt Cdr Ian Molyneux.
Southampton City Council’s leader, Councillor Royston Smith, has told how he overpowered the gunman while on a guided tour of the vessel.
Mr Molyneux is said to have been a weapons engineer in charge of the vessel’s missiles.
Another crew member remains in hospital where he was said to be in a stable condition.
The Ministry of Defence is expected to officially name the two victims later.
At the time of the shooting at about 1210 BST local dignitaries were on board as part of a civic party, which also included the city council’s mayor Carol Cunio and chief executive Alistair Neill.
Eleven children were on the quayside about to board the submarine.
City council leader, Mr Smith, said the gunman had already fired his gun several times when he wrestled him to the ground in the control room.
Royston Smith, Southampton Council : “I managed to wrestle him to the ground”
Mr Smith, who once served in the RAF, said: “At some point I decided that the best form of defence was to try to disarm him. I guess I’m lucky he did not hit me.”
He said the gunman fired again while he had hold of the weapon.
“I had a strange feeling. I was not sure if I’d been hit – it didn’t hurt – but I wasn’t thankfully.”
He said he pushed the man against the wall “and we wrestled, then I pushed him into another wall which resulted in him going to the ground and I managed to get the weapon from him and threw it aside under a table”.
He said he shouted for someone to help and the city council’s chief executive Alistair Neill came over and “did a remarkable job of restraining” the gunman, Mr Smith said.
The council leader said the gunman became compliant after a minute or two but was “thrashing around and was not going to give up easily”.
Police were called to Southampton docks shortly after 1200 BST on Friday Hampshire Police are interviewing about 30 potential witnesses to what happened on the submarine.
The force said the shootings were not linked to terrorism and submarine security had not been breached.
The 97m (318ft) HMS Astute, the UK’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine, is based at the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde.
Astute was named and launched by the Duchess of Cornwall in June 2007 before being welcomed into the Royal Navy in August last year at a commissioning ceremony at Faslane.
The vessel has been berthed in Southampton since Wednesday for a five-day official visit.
The Port of Southampton has been fully reopened following the incident.
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