Since August of last year, there have been at least three significant incidents that have “sunk” the careers of Royal Navy submarine officers. While submariners are known to work hard at sea and play even harder when they’re on dry land, the string of recent events should serve as a warning to every military officer as well as any security clearance holder as how not to behave.
Earlier this month, Royal Navy officer – Lt. Clair Jenkins – was found to have been filming “porn to order” with her seaman lover inside a secret British nuclear base. Known to “fans” as Cally Taylor on the OnlyFans website, she was reported to have filmed the explicit videos at Faslane Nuclear Submarine Headquarters at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in Scotland.
Many of the videos are reported to have included her 29-year-old lover, Leading Seaman Liam Doddington, who is posted to the same base. After being confronted by her bosses and confessing, instead of ceasing the activities as requested, Jenkins then posted more X-rated content as recently as last weekend.
At issue is the fact that Jenkins serves on the hunter-killer submarine HMS Artful and her responsibilities include embarking special forces teams at sea. While the officer has been open and honest with her bosses and explained this is how she spends her free time, one issue is whether she has completely come clean and whether anything she is holding back could be used to compromise her or her lover(s).
Another issue has been whether the videos shared anything that could even remotely compromise the security of the facilities.
“Any unauthorized filming in a secure facility could be grounds for a security concern,” explained attorney Bradley P. Moss of the Law Firm of Mark Zaid, in an email to ClearanceJobs. “Doing it for illicit means such as this only worsens the violation.”
Party Boat Part I
The incident involving Jenkins follows other notable displays of “bad judgment” among naval officers from the UK. Royal Navy Commander Jonathan Lewis, found himself relieved of his command for what amounted to hosting a military version of “booze cruise” last August.
Lewis, who was the captain of the British hunter-killer submarine HMS Trenchant threw a party for the crew during a coronavirus lockdown after the boat reported to Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. It actually involved little more than a dockside barbecue with loud music, and was put on by the commanding officer of the Trafalgar-class submarine to let the crew blow off some steam while they remained in isolation for an additional two weeks.
It may have seemed harmless, but there was a problem. The senior officers onshore, as well as some of Lewis’ own officers, advised him against going ahead with the party. He took a “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” attitude and hosted the event. If that wasn’t bad enough, crew members posted photos that included some being seen “swilling beer” and it didn’t help matters that techno music could be heard “miles away.”
A senior defense source told the BBC that this was just one of a number of instances that had undermined the trust and credibility of his ability to command.
Party Boat Part II
Just months after the dockside party in the UK, the crew of the HMS Vigilant proved to be anything but vigilant in how they acted when the submarine made a port visit to the U.S. Navy’s East Coast SSBN hub in Georgia. Following that visit in October, more than 30 crewmembers tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and that impacted the ability of the Vigilant to conduct its mission.
The submarine is one of only four Vanguard-class ballistic submarines armed with Trident missiles and is tasked with maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrence force.
The sailors serving on the £3 billion submarine were ordered not to leave the quarters at the Kings Bay Navy Base, but at least a dozen totally disregarded those rules and headed off to bars, restaurants, and of course strip clubs – with at least a few traveling several hundred miles to Florida, which at the time had been among the states hardest hit by the pandemic.
It was also a failure from nearly the top down, as The Daily Mail reported that Lieutenant Commander Len Louw, a weapons engineering officer in charge of the boat’s nuclear missiles, reported drunk and with a bucket of barbecue chicken in tow when he finally turned up late for his shift on the submarine.
That incident was also just the most recent event involving bad judgment aboard the Vigilant.
In 2017, some sailors serving on the submarine violated liberty and tested positive for drugs; while a prior captain and fellow officer were also relieved of duty after it was found they had sex with female officers onboard the boat. As a result of those prior scandals the sub earned the dubious nickname “HMS Sex and Cocaine” in the British press!
