Nuclear Submarine Plans Discovered In Charity Shop

A charity shop in north Wales has found nuclear submarine plans in a suitcase.

Staff at a Barnardo's store in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, say they were amazed to make the discovery.

The documents show details of the former £200 million HMS Trafalgar, that was decommissioned in 2009.

The suitcase was donated anonymously and filled with books, but hidden in the lining was the 6ft drawings of the former navy vessel.

The manager of the shop, Stella Parker, said:

"When I found it I just thought 'wow, this is amazing'.

"I can only imagine the family of someone who passed away donated the suitcase, and perhaps they didn't know the plan was there".

The plans are due to be sold in a silent auction at the shop later this month. 

It's not the first time however that HMS Trafalgar has been at the heart of a mystery.

A  Royal Navy submariner was jailed in 2012 for trying "to pass secrets to the Russians that could have undermined Britain's national security."

It's understood that some of the information related to a secret operation undertaken by the submarine. 

HMS Trafalgar is one of the few submarines of the modern era that have returned to port flying a Jolly Rodger, the skull and crossbones traditionally flown after a successful patrol which has seen enemy targets destroyed.