A terribly tragic incident but I do fully understand the very polite tongue in cheek remark regarding the 'ship' vs 'boat' comment.
It was tongue in cheek and all the author was possibly attempting to say was that the Royal Navy has always called a submarine a 'boat' and no submariner would want his boat to be called a ship
. (apologies for the smiley but I want folks to know I am trying to be tactful)
My thoughts are also with the relatives of all those effected by this tragic incident.