How Russian media mocked UK's Trident missile failure

The failed test of the Trident missile from a Royal Navy submarine led to a wave of ridicule in the world media.

After news of the failed test leaked, Russian media wasted little time mocking the UK over the incident.

“No one was harmed except for the reputation of the Royal Navy,” Russia 1's main news bulletin said on Wednesday.

“An attempt by the former Royal Navy of Great Britain – which we now call Little Britain – to show its strength ended in failure,” Olga Skabeeva, host of the talk show 60 Minutes on the major television channel, said earlier in the day.

Alexander Coates, a Star Wars correspondent for the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, said on his Telegram channel that the incident “confirms once again that Great Britain has finally lost its status as 'ruler of the waves'.”

In China, the Xinhua News Agency website published an article entitled: “A failed test by the British Navy: a missile collides with the sea, causing a crash, and a nuclear submarine hovers under the water.”

The website of China's state-run nationalist newspaper, the Global Times, went further. Its headline read: “Embarrassing! The Royal Navy's Trident 2 nuclear submarine missile fails for the second time in a row.”

The Global Times article noted previous failures of the Trident program, including when a missile “accidentally flew toward the United States” during a test in June 2016.

“It is worth noting that not long ago, the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth also experienced an embarrassing malfunction,” the Global Times article added.

Elsewhere, Turkish media covered the failed Trident test extensively. The website of the pro-government newspaper Axam said: “The UK almost shot its minister.”

The pro-government newspaper Milliyet's website reported, “The fiasco during the missile test: the British Defense Minister narrowly escaped death.”

There have been no suggestions from UK officials or media reports that Mr Shapps has suffered any harm at all.

The headline of the New York Times report was, “British nuclear missile test fails again,” adding that this raises “questions about the state of Britain’s nuclear deterrent capability.”

The article stated, “The British Navy has suffered a series of problems in recent months with its fleet.”

Additional research and reporting by BBC Monitoring