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SAILORS returned from a secret three-month patrol on a nuclear submarine – then smashed up a cinema and bar on a boozy rampage.

The senior Royal Navy officers are now being hunted by military police and parts of the base at Faslane have been sealed off as a crime scene.

And like Sean Connery in Cold War submarine thriller, The Hunt for Red October, the officers of HMS Victorious are being ordered to give themselves up.

The sub, which carries the Trident ballistic missile, returned to the base near Helensburgh last Friday. Sources said the men were boozing in the wardroom bar, reserved for officers, from 5pm.

The binge continued after a civilian who manned the bar left, leaving an honesty bar – which triggered mayhem.

The orgy of destruction on the fourth floor of the Faslane main building involved:

●A projector ripped from a ceiling at the base’s cinema.

●The cinema screen hauled down and ripped.

●Photographs of naval scenes pulled off walls and smashed.

●An heirloom diving helmet dented and its glass visor smashed after it was thrown around the bar

●Officers sick on the carpet.

●A young lieutenant found asleep under a piano in the morning.

After the extent of the damage was discovered, a report was sent to Faslane senior commander Commodore Mark Gayfer.

By Monday, the fourth floor of the complex was taped off as a crime scene by MoD police, who dusted vandalised items for fingerprints.

It is thought top brass have ordered those responsible to give themselves up.

A source at the base said: “The place was a wreck. It was like a bunch of football hooligans had been scrapping in a bar. It looks like things got out of hand and they just went around smashing anything they could get their hands on for the sake of it.

“When a member of civilian staff went in the next morning one of the young officers was lying asleep under a piano in the bar. He was oblivious to the trouble he was in and went up to his quarters to sleep it off.”

The source said drunken high jinks would have been more likely to have been down to junior ratings than officers. He added: “It’s extraordinary you would get this kind of behaviour from officers. They are meant to be leading a good example but this is a total disgrace.

“If any of the ratings were caught behaving like this they would be up on charges, so the officers shouldn’t be treated any different.”

The source said the severity of the incident became obvious to Faslane staff after a note was put on the wardroom lift, stating that the fourth floor was a no-go zone.

He said: “There was a feeling that the matter was going to get brushed under the carpet but somebody high up obviously hit the roof and took a different view.

“The talk now is they’re looking for resignations. If anyone gets the bullet, it could be catastrophic for them as it would hit their pension and their prospects.”

(Image: Tam McDonald)

The routes of patrols of HMS Victorious and other nuclear subs are closely guarded secrets and the sailors are given details on a need-to-know basis.

Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara said he was astonished to hear officers at Faslane had been accused of such loutish behaviour.

O’Hara added: “The Navy have a zero tolerance approach to this kind of behaviour so I am sure that a full investigation will be set up to establish what happened.”

The Royal Navy refused to discuss details of the vandalism but a spokesman said: “I can confirm that Royal Navy Police are investigating an allegation of criminal damage within a service establishment. As this is an ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.”