A submarine captain accused of bullying his officers told a court martial yesterday that some were so inexperienced it was like having lower division footballers on a Premiership pitch. Capt Robert Tarrant, 44, who was commander of the nuclear submarine Talent, told a court martial that he expected the very highest standards from his crew. He said he used a leadership style he had learned serving in the Falklands conflict. "I discovered that the margin of error between operational safety and therefore operational success and operational disaster was pretty small," he said. "From my perspective it came down to having the very highest standards of operational capability that one could have at all times. I learned that if you were trying to train during an operation it is too late. In the Falklands we had a captain who had served in the Korean war and because he was an excellent leader we got through and we did well."The court martial, at HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, has heard that Capt Tarrant went red in the face with fury during "rants" at his officers, some of whom were reduced to tears. Three of five allegations of ill-treatment were withdrawn at the end of the prosecution case because of a lack of evidence.
| Officers do not blubber. They may occasionally want to, but they do not blubber. |
He vigorously defended himself against the remaining charges of bullying two officers, Lt Cdr Ryan Ramsey and Lt James Carrick.
When asked about Lt Cdr Ramsey he described him as "an improving watch leader with a long way to go". But when asked about Lt Carrick he said he had not wanted to take him out on operations. Capt Tarrant said: "He was a very junior officer who seemed in harbour to me to sail very close to the wind. I did call into question his officer-like qualities and I did not want him to come on to the patrol but because of the dearth of anyone else available I was told that he had to."
Parts of the court martial are being heard in private because of the sensitive nature of Talent's operations at the time of the alleged offences. The hearing continues.