UK Trident submarine missile launch failed with top brass aboard
www.defensenews.com

... British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and other top officials were on board a Royal Navy nuclear submarine when the test-firing of a Trident II 5 nuclear missile failed last month.

The misfire saw the missile crash back into the sea close to the submarine HMS Vanguard which was undertaking demonstration and shakedown operations off the coast of Florida following a seven-year deep maintenance program.

Shapps confirmed the failure in a Feb. 21 statement to parliament after reports of the Jan. 30 incident appeared up in The Sun newspaper here.

It's the second Trident test firing in a row that has gone wrong for the Royal Navy. The previous misfire took place in 2016 when a missile veered off course and was destroyed.

Shapps was accompanied onboard HMS Vanguard by Britain's top sailor, Adm. Sir Ben Key, numerous media outlets have reported. ...

imo, any test that fails with "top brass aboard" is more than just a failure.

It is an embarrassing catastrophe.

Why? When "top brass" agree to be involved, there seems to be an assurance of a successful test.

A successful test did not happen on this occasion.

So the Top Brass now have to explain why they were present.

Yeah, this ain't good.

On multiple levels.