Royal Navy drone crashes into £400k yacht after “going rogue”

A Royal Navy sea drone crashed into a racing yacht and caused thousands of pounds in damage after it “went rogue” in a harbour.

The uncrewed fast attack boat was taking part in trials when it rammed the side of the £400,000 luxury craft.

It is not the first problem linked to the Rattler attack drones.

The collision this month at busy Portsmouth Harbour follows separate incidents last year when a tug and a local Gosport ferry had to dodge the 24ft vessels.

Now naval top brass have launched a probe after the rigid inflatable drone — codenamed Rattler 4 — hit the 55ft Lutine, a luxury racing yacht that is part of the Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate.

A harbour source said the drone “went rogue” and crashed into the Lutine, which was under sail and had right of way at the time.

Both vessels suffered significant damage but were still seaworthy.

But afterwards the Lutine had to go into dry dock for repairs to a large gouge on its stern.

The remote-controlled uncrewed surface vessels (USV) are designed to swarm warships in “wolf packs” and are controlled via satellite link.

The Rattler is one of seven drones taking part in war games around Portsmouth Harbour since March — and should have stayed 650ft away from ships.

The drones were designed and built “in a matter of weeks” for the Fleet Experimentation Squadron, which tests cutting-edge technology.

Portsmouth is home to a large naval base, a cross-channel ferry, marinas, cargo ports and ferries to the Isle of Wight and Gosport.

The King’s Harbour Master Portsmouth, which runs the 55sq-mile site, had sent a notice to other mariners about the trials and said they would be aborted “if a close- quarters situation is developing”.

It said: “The USVs will be remotely controlled and will comply with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea throughout.”

Local mariners said Navy drone trials have increased recently but most took place outside the marina, so private vessels were not in danger.

One sailor said: “We’ve seen the Lutine a lot but didn’t know what happened.

“We just saw the damage.”

The Royal Navy said: “We are investigating an incident which occurred between a Royal Navy Rattler craft and a civilian yacht during a controlled training exercise in an area within Portsmouth Harbour.”

Guy Williams, commodore of Lloyd’s Yacht Club, which charters the yacht to insurance bigwigs, said: “We can confirm the incident occurred but have nothing else to add.”