Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond is to proceed with the order for the submarines to carry Trident II, replacing the ageing Vanguard class thermonuclear ballistic missile submarines.
This will obviously create more tensions within the Westminster coalition, with the settled Liberal Democrat opposition to nuclear weapons.
However, it shuts off a useful option in negotiations with Scotland.
In the scenario of an independent Scotland, opposed to the nuclear deterrent and to the renewal of the massively expensive Trident system, the Westminster government would have had the option of unilateral nuclear disarmament while retaining the nuclear powered but conventionally armed new Astute class hunter killer submarines,
This would be a situation an independent Scotland could accept, were the UK to wish – as it would – to retain its submarine fleet and armaments bases at Faslane and Coulport in Argyll – and pay for the privilege.
This unwavering commitment to Trident throws the situation into a full standoff with Scotland asw well as with the Liberal Democrats, both opposed to the deterrent, although an independent Scotland would, with neither principle nor logic, now seek membership of NATO – with its primary commitment to first strike nuclear deterrence.
Newsroom, you make this point well but, you’ve seemed to have forgotten that the Americans use faslane as well and their subs carry first strike nuclear weapons also. Would Alex just look the other way on that one, or would he fudge the issue or simply lie again. “oh but the Americans are not based at faslane they are mealy visiting”, yeah right!!
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Perhaps if Dave Cameron asks Don Trump to ‘put a word in’ with our leader. Don could threaten to withdraw his golf carts if Alex carries on posturing about weapons of mass destruction.
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Is it still the case that we have to ask our owners from across the pond (or their owners) for the key if we want to attack someone with this weapon?
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Oban4me says “Would Alex just .. lie again”. You will surely be aware that LIEbor are now refusing the FM investigation they were screaming for. Are they scared that they will lose again, letting everyone know that the liars are themselves and their BBC propagandists.
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Beware warmongers bearing gifts
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This is no more a commitment to Trident than is continuing to run the existing SSBNs; the money is for design studies and research for whatever is to replace the Vanguard class. If they didn’t commit to spending this money, doubtless Nick Clegg would be at the front of the queue to moan at the defence secretary(whoever it is going to be) in 2016 for the delay and cost escalation due to the design process not being started in a timely manner, i.e. now
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The ‘main gate’ contract date for Trident is 2016, so there is indeed no guarantee until then that the contract will go ahead.
However, so many related matters like design and like the carrier submarines, have – rightly, as you say – to be progressed in the meantime that there is an inexorable certainty about going through that gate.
We noticed that Hammond announced that the Trafalgars were to be based at Faslane. These are the hunter-killer predecessors of Astute and are conventionally armed. Their move to the Clyde was actually first announced a couple of years ago but has not yet happened.
It’s not wholly good news.
The Trafalgars had a class fault that led to thermal fatigue cracks in their reactor primary cooling circuits.
In 2000, of the seven of them, Tireless was stuck in Gibraltar for a year, having extensive repairs to a serious leak from this fault. Back home, four more – Torbay, Turbulent, Trenchant and Talent were in Devonport for refit to resolve this issue. During this time, Trafalgar was on sea trials and only one of the Trafalgars, Triumph was in service. This appears to have been the situation for five years until, in 2005, the refits of the four were completed and the faults with the reactor cooling system were said to have been corrected.
Two have already been decommissioned – Trafalgar herself and Turbulent. In 2004, Trafalgar had a diesel leak in Devonport before arriving in Faslane for trials. She then had a freon leak in Faslane and, on 28 April 2004, 11 crew members refused to go to sea in her. [Freon is one of the chlorofluorocarbons or greenhouse gases. It's used for refrigeration and was developed for air conditioning - its likely use on the subs.]
The refits have theoretically allowed their service lives to be extended so, where the youngest, Triumph, was commissioned in 1991 she will now continue in service until 2022.
Tireless is due to be decommissioned in 2013 so the likelihood is that she will arrive in Faslane in time to be decommissioned here rather than in Devonport – which is simply dumping a problem, not giving a benefit.
The decommission dates planned for the others after the refits concluded in 2005, are Torbay in 2015, Trenchant in 2017, and Talent in 2019. Triumph, the last, slated to decommission in 2022, is three years younger than Talent, began her own nuclear refuel and refit in 2005 and came back into service in 2010.
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There are already 7 decommissioned subs at Rosyth so that’s not a new development; regardless of how individuals feel about storage of nuclear waste, we have this waste and it needs to be dealt with responsibly. The UK needs a high-level waste store; if geology means it will be built in Scotland so be it, provided there are appropriate safeguards.
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