Weekly Submarine Mystery - One Quote, One Question

Unknowns... What was the sub doing at the time, and when was the accident that caused the two fatalities? Let's review various reports:

Two Royal Naval sailors were killed in an explosion aboard the attack submarine HMS Tireless on Tuesday night. ... Tireless was participating in Ice Exercise 2007 with the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine Alexandria in 'joint classified testing on submarine operability and war fighting capabilities in Arctic waters' according to a release from Naval Submarine Forces in Norfolk, Va. ... The accident took place at 8:20 p.m. local time and the Tireless surfaced through the ice soon thereafter, the statement said. - The NavyTimes, Thursday Mar 22, 2007.

On [Wednesday] 21 March 2007, two Tireless crew members were killed in an explosion onboard, apparently caused by an oxygen purification candle in the forward section of the submarine. The submarine was in service near the North Pole under ICEX07 along with the USS Alexandria (SSN-757) and had to make an emergency surface through the ice cap. ... Part of the exercise was being used to measure ice thickness by using sonar.[2][3]- Wikipedia article.

Two sailors were killed and another injured aboard a Royal Navy nuclear attack submarine Wednesday after an explosion during the use of a back-up ventilation system, an administrative official with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) told Bellona Web Thursday. According to a statement release by the British MOD, the nuclear reactor of the HMS Tireless was not affected and there was only minimal damage to the bow section of the vessel, where the explosion took place. ... The accident took place while the HMS Tireless was on exercises with the US Navy under the polar ice cap.

Thursday, March 22, 2007 - London (England) - An explosion aboard a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine at 0420 GMT yesterday [Wednesday] which left two sailors dead and a third injured was caused by an oxygen "candle", US and British military sources have conformed. HMS Tireless is a Trafalgar-class nuclear attack submarine, which was on exercise under the polar ice cap with the USS Alexandria, a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine. ... [Quote of the Week]- The difference between a minor incident and a major incident onboard a submarine is often measured in very callous terms TG Daily.com

Paul McCann, 32, and Anthony Huntrod, 20, were killed on Wednesday in the incident, which involved an emergency oxygen generator on the submarine HMS Tireless. Both sailors were deployed to the Polar Ice Cap only three weeks ago, the MoD said. guardian.co.uk , Friday, March 23, 2007.

Just guessing, but must presume the Navy Times erred in reporting the accident happened Tuesday night.

More...

Tireless video #1 from Reuters.

Tireless video #2 Released by U.S. Navy

What was HMS Tireless doing at the time? If you or I knew, we would not be free to tell one another.

The mystery question, then:

Space age medical history was made in the aftermath of this tragic submarine incident. Exactly what was new in medical history? Answer Monday.