A group of Norwegian fishermen recently got more than they bargained for after their fishing net, intended for catching halibut, ended up trapping a United States Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine instead.
The incident occurred on November 11 off the coast of Norway, near the Malangen fjord, and left the fishermen with an unbelievable tale to tell.
The crew, led by 22-year-old Harald Engen, was operating the Øygutt, a 10-meter fishing boat, when the strange event unfolded. Harald Engen revealed that after emptying their nets and preparing to return to shore, the group received an urgent call from the Coast Guard.
The fishermen were informed that their net had accidentally entangled the USS Virginia, a 115-meter-long nuclear-powered attack submarine.
“We had just emptied the nets and put them out again and were on our way back to shore at Sommarøya when we were called by the Coast Guard on channel 16 on the VHF radio,” Engen said in an interview with NRK Troms.
The Coast Guard confirmed that the submarine had unintentionally sailed into the net, dragging it for about two nautical miles.
The location of the accident was just north of the island of Senja, off the coast of Tromsø, an area regularly frequented by maritime traffic, including naval vessels. The USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine, was traveling from the port of Tromsø when the unusual incident occurred.
The submarine, which has been making more frequent appearances off the coast of Norway in recent years, was reportedly surfacing when the net became entangled in its propeller. A Norwegian Coast Guard vessel was dispatched to assist in cutting the submarine free from the fishing gear.
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Lt. Pierson Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US 6th Fleet, confirmed that no injuries were reported in the incident, adding, “The investigation into the cause of the incident is still ongoing.”
The fishermen, mostly in their early 20s, laughed about the situation. Engen expressed surprise at the incident’s oddity, noting that while other vessels have been known to pass over fishing nets, no one had ever heard of a submarine doing so.
“I know about other vessels that have sailed over fishing nets, but no one out here have ever heard about a submarine doing so,” added Engen.
The US Navy has acknowledged the incident through its embassy in Oslo. Speaking about potential compensation, Hawkins explained that there is a claims process in place for situations where the US is responsible for damage to civilian equipment.
Although the fishermen lost a net, the incident has provided them with a story that will likely be shared with laughter at the local pub for many years.
Unforeseen Encounters Of Submarines & Boats
The Barents and Norwegian Seas have become increasingly busy, hosting frequent activity from NATO and Russian warships. These waters are no strangers to incidents involving military vessels and fishing nets. As traffic intensifies, such accidents, while rare, are bound to occur.
Interactions between submarines and fishing nets are an unfortunate byproduct of overlapping maritime activities. History offers sobering examples of these encounters.
One tragic case occurred in November 1990 when the British trawler Antares sank after its fishing gear got entangled with the Royal Navy’s Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Trenchant.
When the incident happened, the submarine was carrying out a training exercise near the Isle of Arran. Despite efforts to avoid nearby vessels detected by sonar, the submarine inadvertently snagged Antares’ trawl line.
The collision caused the fishing vessel to capsize and sink, tragically claiming the lives of its four crew members. When the submarine’s crew heard loud noises and detected scraping, they surfaced and observed fishing boats nearby but saw no signs of distress.
The true extent of the incident became apparent only after HMS Trenchant returned to port, where damage to its sonar dome confirmed its involvement in the accident. The tragedy prompted the Royal Navy to implement stricter protocols to prevent such disasters.
This wasn’t an isolated case. In June 1984, a Soviet diesel-powered submarine became ensnared in the fishing gear of the Norwegian trawler Bentin in the North Sea, approximately 50 nautical miles off southwestern Norway.
The submarine struggled for 30 minutes to free itself before surfacing, still entangled in the trawler’s wire. It remained trapped for three and a half hours before the situation was finally resolved. While no lives were lost, the incident demonstrated how such mishaps can disrupt both naval and fishing operations.
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