Exclusive
FILL YER BOATS!
Brazen crooks siphon off £250,000 of diesel from Royal Navy warship in one of UK’s biggest fuel thefts
DIESEL worth more than £250,000 was stolen from a Royal Navy warship in one of Britain’s biggest fuel thefts.
The crooks drove off with tankers intended to power HMS Bulwark.
3
3
The heist ran for weeks at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth — as pump prices hit record levels.
A source said: “The Navy is furious about it.”
The brazen thieves embarrassed defence chiefs by pulling off the massive diesel theft under their noses at the high-security naval base.
They siphoned off more than £250,000 worth during the daring operation — which Navy chiefs fear went on for weeks.
Read More on Royal Navy
The alarm was only raised when civilian guards performed a spot check on a tanker driver trying to leave HMNB Devonport, in Plymouth, Devon.
A source told The Sun: “They must have needed one hell of a jerrycan. The fuel that was taken was supposed to power the ship as it undergoes a refit.
“It’s a bit like generating electricity for a small town given Bulwark’s size and the generator is enormous.
“A sentry got suspicious about the movements of the fuel tanker and the vehicle was stopped.
Most read in News
“Naturally, the Navy is furious about it — even though none of their personnel were involved.”
An urgent probe has been launched into the major security breach
Naval experts have branded the revelations a huge embarrassment for the MoD and subcontractors Babcock International — at a time of heightened international tensions and war in Ukraine.
The stunning theft took place as pump prices rose to record levels.
By the time it was finally rumbled, most of the diesel has been flogged on the black market.
The stolen fuel — which works in diesel cars — was due to fill up generators powering the 19,560-tonne assault ship, which carries 325 sailors and up to 405 troops.
The source continued: “Bulwark is an amphibious warfare ship and is a vital part of Britain's defence.
“The fact that she was left vulnerable and exposed like this is simply a travesty and Babcock has questions to answer.”
Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport told The Sun: "The theft of fuel from a Royal Navy warship is not only criminal, it takes scarce resources away from our military in a time of national crisis.
“With the armed forces facing more and more cuts, having such a huge amount of fuel stolen is not only embarrassing, but it also raises serious questions about security at one of our most secure naval bases.”
Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry, a former commander of the Amphibious Task Group said: “Right now I'd rather have the fuel go to the Black Sea than the black market.
“This is incredibly careless. We expect our civilian contractors to look after us a lot better.
STUNNING THEFT
“It's a good job that security was able to pick them up.”
Former Frigate Captain Tom Sharpe said: “This is extraordinary, I have never heard anything like it.
“Out at sea there is a whole smuggling community centred around stealing fuel from commercial vessels, but in port from a Royal Navy warship is a completely different matter.
“Ships in dock are vulnerable to all sorts of security threats, and fires and floods, because they have fewer crew and there’s less sense of ownership from the contractors."
is also where Britain's nuclear submarines undergo refuelling of their top- secret reactors.
The vast base covers more than 650 acres and has 15 dry docks, four miles of waterfront, 25 tidal berths and five basins.
HMS Bulwark is one of the Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships.
Together with sister vessel, HMS Albion, Bulwark can land Royal Marines and their deadly kit ashore anywhere in the world.
It is undergoing a refit at the site which has been a Royal Navy base since 1691.
Last night, an MoD spokesman said: "‘The MOD is aware of an incident involving the alleged theft of fuel from a contractor within HMNB Devonport.
"There was no disruption to Defence operations and the MOD has no further comment.”
Babcock International declined to comment. In October thieves were caught trying to steal more than £45,000 of fuel from a family-run truck shop in Farlington, Hants.
Last month, crooks also stole thousands of litres of fuel from a haulage depot in north-east England.
The 15,000 litres of diesel, worth about £24,000, was taken from a storage tank at Murray Hogg in Newcastle.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More on The Sun
In 2017 an operator accidentally fired a torpedo at a nuclear dockyard that flew across a jetty and smashed into a fence.
Amazingly no-one was hurt when the 9ft missile, which was not armed, was blasted out of HMS Argyll while the ship was moored in Devonport.
3
Topics