Royal Navy: First Sea Lord orders investigation into 'abhorrent' allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour

Admiral Sir Ben Key, the First Sea Lord, was responding to allegations regarding the submarine service

The Chief of the Naval Staff responded to the allegations personally on Twitter where he said: ‘I am deeply disturbed to hear of allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the submarine service and I want to reassure our people, and anyone who is reading this, that any activity which falls short of the highest of standards the Royal Navy sets itself is totally unacceptable and not a true reflection of what service life should be.

‘These allegations are abhorrent. Sexual assault and harassment has no place in the Royal Navy and will not be tolerated.

‘I have directed my senior team to investigate these allegations thoroughly. Anyone who is found culpable will be held accountable for their actions regardless of their rank or status.’

The statement comes after allegations were reported in a national newspaper.

The Daily Mail said submariners compiled a ‘crush depth rape list’ in which women were ranked in the order they should be raped in a catastrophic event, and along with foul physical and verbal abuse.

Speaking to the newspaper, former lieutenant Sophie Brook, 30, said: ‘The best thing I ever did was leave the Navy but I worry about the women I left behind. It was just a constant campaign of sexual bullying.’

The Mail said Ms Brook left the Navy when she was investigated for sharing sensitive information about her submarine’s movement in an email.

The newspaper said she resigned in January but was formally dismissed in June and handed a suspended prison sentence.

Another whistleblower told the Mail that women are constantly pestered for sex.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says that, while most Royal Navy personnel enjoy rewarding careers, for some, predominantly women, their experience has been affected by inappropriate sexualised behaviour.

They say they accept more needs to be done and earlier this year the MoD announced a zero-tolerance policy to sexual offences aligning the Royal Navy, RAF, and Army under one approach to dealing with incidences with the aim of enabling better support for victims and securing justice for them.