Navy may scrap £300m destroyer

The holed warship HMS Nottingham may be so badly damaged that the Royal Navy could have to consider scrapping it.

With five Royal Navy officers due to arrive within the next 48 hours to conduct a Board of Inquiry investigation that could result in the ship's captain, Commander Richard Farrington, facing a court martial, navy sources admitted the damage was "very serious".

The £300 million ship is reported to have one hole in its hull 30 metres long. There are also said to be many other holes, some large and some very small, after hitting Wolfe Rock near Lord Howe island in the South Pacific off the coast of Australia

When a member of the Australian Navy diving team, which is helping with emergency repairs to the Nottingham's five damaged compartments, was asked how many holes there were in the 3,500-tonne vessel, a clearly distressed Cmdr Farrington replied: "How many holes do you want?"

But he is still displaying the famous British stiff upper lip, telling reporters: "In an ideal world, I will sail her home."

Meanwhile, the inquiry from Britain, led by Commodore Tony Rix, will examine the ship's log, orders and action.

The investigators will be looking closely at two key command decisions - why the Nottingham took a course dangerously close to Wolfe Rock, a well-charted hazard, and why the ship was directed on a collision course with the rocks.

The captain was not on the bridge at the time, having returned from shore only minutes before the collision, and it has been revealed that the ship was under the command of a lieutenant.

Cmdr Farrington has refused to discuss any aspects of his ship's command in light of the official investigation. Earlier this week, he said the ship had manoeuvred to gain more stability to secure the helicopter, in which he had just returned from Lord Howe island, and get it safely stored - a task he said was even more difficult than landing.

It is believed the Nottingham turned its bow into the wind, putting it on a collision course with Wolfe Rock close by.

The destroyer, which is at anchor off Lord Howe island and still sitting low in the water, is now bracing itself for storms gusting up to 40 knots. It will be many more days before it can be moved.

Weather conditions are predicted to become more extreme than those on Sunday night when the Nottingham hit Wolfe Rock, two nautical miles from the Lord Howe island.

The word circulating round informed naval circles in Canberra is that the Ministry of Defence is considering writing off the Nottingham because the damage could run into "tens of millions of pounds".

A Royal Navy spokesman said Whitehall is still awaiting a full assessment before announcing Nottingham's future.

Two of the five damaged compartments, flooded up to a level of seven metres, had been pumped dry by yesterday evening. Commodore Graham Wiltshire, a British defence advisor based in Canberra who flew to Lord Howe on Tuesday with the salvage crew, said a team of engineers and maritime architects were discussing what to do next.

"There are a range of options," he said, "but it would not really help for me to speculate on what

those options might be." One possibility is that a floating dry dock be sent from Sydney for repairs. Another is that the ship is towed to Sydney by the New Zealand navy frigate Temana for repairs.

Commodore Wiltshire is due to fly to Canberra via Sydney today, where he will brief Royal Australian Navy maritime commander Rear Admiral Geoff Smith and Australian navy chief Chris Ritchie.