The Royal Navy has launched an investigation after the captain of a submarine held a barbeque with dance music for his crew during the coronavirus lockdown.

Video posted on social media apparently shows submariners watching what looks to be a makeshift DJ set while sat at tables or standing on the dockside at a naval base in Devonport, Plymouth.

HMS Trenchant, a nuclear-powered submarine, can be seen alongside, with cooks in white overalls standing on its casing - the top of the boat - with a barbecue.

Image: HMS Trenchant in the Suez near the port city of Ismailia in Egypt in 2009

The commanding officer had allegedly been told he could not have a barbecue on land given the lockdown, so apparently decided to have it physically onboard the submarine.

"It was within the letter but not the spirit" of the advice, a defence source said.


The source said the barbeque alone - for a crew that was back for a short period of maintenance on the submarine before heading back out to sea - would not have triggered an investigation, but that it followed a number of other alleged "errors of judgement".

They were also being looked into, the source added.

The commanding officer has been sent home while the investigation takes place but remains in command of the submarine - one of the most elite and difficult-to-obtain roles in the Royal Navy.

The exact date of the barbeque is not clear but the defence source said it happened early on in the coronavirus lockdown, when the significant effort by the government to tell people to stay at home and not to socialise was just beginning.

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Video of the dockside party was first posted on a Facebook page called Fill Your Boots.

The sight of a few dozen submariners - even though none of them could have COVID-19 because they had been together at sea in their submarine when the pandemic hit the UK - was not thought to be a good idea by more senior officers.

At the time, HMS Trenchant was only at the base for a number of days before it was due to head back out to sea.

The commanding officer remains in command of the boat. He is not facing any disciplinary action, only the risk of administrative action if the investigation finds that he did anything wrong.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: "An investigation is under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further."