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UK marine accident unit to investigate collision between CTV and USV
An investigation has started into the collision of a crew transfer vessel and an uncrewed surface vessel in a UK offshore windfarm
The Department for Transport’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has begun its investigation into the accident involving 2015-built crew transfer vessel Iceni Legend and a survey-class uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in a UK offshore windfarm in September.
The MAIB said there was a collision between Turner Iceni’s Iceni Legend and unmanned vessel X-18 in the Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm in the North Sea, 48 km from Lowestoft, England, on 19 September 2025.
UK-flagged Iceni Legend was built by South Boats and Alicat Workboats in Great Yarmouth, England, with capacity to carry 12 passengers and three crew, a beam of 8 m and a draught of 1.2 m. This 23-m vessel has two 12-cylinder MAN 12V 1400 main diesel engines, each developing 1,029 kW of power driving an azimuth thruster via Servogear transmission, for a top speed of 32 knots.
X-18 is one of 31 USVs operated by Northern Ireland-headquartered XOcean and was undertaking surveys at Greater Gabbard in September.
According to automatic identification system data, Iceni Legend operates out of Lowestoft transferring engineers to Greater Gabbard for regular maintenance works.
The MAIB investigates marine accidents involving UK vessels worldwide and all vessels in UK territorial waters.
In September it also started investigating the flooding and partial sinking of an inflatable boat carrying migrants in the Dover Strait, resulting in a fatality.
In August, the MAIB started a preliminary assessment into the fall of a rescue boat from its davit on support vessel VOS Tracker during maintenance with two crew members on board while at sea around 145 nautical miles northeast of Peterhead, Scotland.
Other preliminary assessments started in August by the MAIB include the rapid uncontrolled descent to the water of an unmanned rescue boat during a training exercise at Lochboisdale, Scotland; and a fatal accident on board New Zealand-registered pleasure yacht, Mollie, around 2.8 nautical miles northwest of the Needles, Isle of Wight, England.
The MAIB also began an investigation in August into how two people were killed on 9-m inflatable boat Peaky Blinder during an allision with a navigation marker in Portsmouth Harbour, England.
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