Salvage experts are considering how best to recover the stricken Royal Navy destroyer HMS Nottingham after it ran aground off the coast of Australia.

A Navy spokesman told BBC News Online a salvage team was on site assessing the damage, and deciding what to do next.

The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday the best option may be to give the 3,500 tonne vessel a "piggyback" home to the UK for repairs, on the deck of a submersible barge.

But the spokesman said this was pure speculation at this stage.

Commander Richard Farrington waits to learn his fate

He added that the fate of the captain in charge of the ship during Sunday's accident would only be decided after an inquiry was completed.

The ship, which is now at anchor, started taking on water after the incident, which happened in poor weather near Lord Howe Island, 300 miles north-east of Sydney in the Tasman Sea.

Court martial

Commander Richard Farrington, who has been in charge of the ship for at least 18 months, could face a court martial if found responsible for the accident.

The Navy spokesman said: "The whole incident will be the subject of a board of inquiry and the fate of the captain will be resolved from those findings."

He said if the board apportioned blame, disciplinary action might be taken after legal advice, but it was too early to say if this would be the case.

Following the accident, the Cdr Farrington said it had not been a "good day" for him.

"It hazarded the lives of 250 men and women. We have done significant damage to a major British warship, " he said.

Routine trip

Asked by local television what caused the accident, he said: "A combination of unfortunate circumstances and human error."

The Guardian said a Dutch barge had previously succeeded in transporting a sister ship HMS Southampton back to the UK for repairs when it collided with a British tanker in the Gulf in 1988.

Her captain was censured in a court martial but continued serving in the Navy.

In Sunday's accident water flooded up to five compartments of HMS Nottingham, including sleeping quarters.

The vessel, with 253 crew on board, was on a routine trip from Cairns, in Queensland, north-east Australia, to Wellington, in New Zealand.