Flames engulf Navy’s largest training base, HMS Collingwood, after sailor’s steamer explodes

FLAMES ripped through a historic naval barracks after a sailor’s steamer exploded.

The e-cigarette was improperly discarded and a fire quickly spread at the Navy’s largest training base.

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Alarms sounded at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hants, while everyone in the Watson Hall block was evacuated, but no injuries were reported.

A source said: “It was chaos – everyone is still in shock at how something like this happened. Everyone is a little shaken and surprised by how a vaporizer almost burned down the excavations.”

The photos showed the charred common room on the ground floor, which connects two blocks at the base.

But the Navy described it as a “smaller, isolated fire” and firefighters said they resolved it and left the scene within 50 minutes.

Sailors will stay in temporary accommodation while repairs are made.

The Royal Navy said: “There are no reports of injuries and we take the health and safety of our personnel seriously.”

The base, opened in 1939, is named after Lord Collingwood, a naval officer who was a partner of Lord Nelson.