A Royal Navy lieutenant faced severe reprimand, loss of seniority, and a fine following a court martial investigation into an incident where his minesweeper came perilously close to a product tanker off the coast of Scotland.
Media reports indicated that the defense acknowledged the mistakes but attributed them to stress, overwork, and fatigue, claiming the officer failed to prioritize his responsibilities.
As explained, the minesweeper HMS Penzance, commissioned in 1997, was involved in a training exercise on April 17, 2023. The defense argued that Lieutenant Euan Playford-Johnson, aged 30, had been on watch for eight hours and was extremely tired and stressed. He was the officer of the watch, overseeing a second officer who was training for nighttime navigation, along with two other personnel on the bridge.
According to news, playford-Johnson stepped aside on the bridge to focus on other work for the next day, leaving the junior officer to navigate. He intended to keep an eye on the navigation but failed to do so adequately.
The 600-ton, 172-foot minesweeper was navigating the busy Firth of Clyde in western Scotland at speeds of up to 13 knots. The incident occurred around 2120 hours. The junior officer became worried about a tugboat and altered the minesweeper’s course, but failed to notice an oncoming product tanker, the Sten Baltic (16,600 dwt). Playford-Johnson and the other personnel on the bridge also did not see the tanker, causing the minesweeper to turn directly into its path.
The captain and pilot of the Sten Baltic recognized the danger, slowed the tanker, and hailed the Penzance, advising them to speed up and change course. The court heard that the minesweeper and tanker came within 360 meters (less than 1,200 feet) of each other.
The court martial revealed that Playford-Johnson compounded his mistake by not reporting the incident to the captain and failing to rectify the situation once aware of its severity. He admitted to not performing his duty and expressed deep remorse, explaining that it had been a long and exhausting day. The Penzance had just gone to sea for the first time in two months for a training exercise for the junior officers.
