HMNB Clyde

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HMNB Clyde
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
Gare Loch, Argyll and Bute, Scotland
HMNB Clyde.jpg
An aerial view of HMNB Clyde
Argyll and Bute UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
HMNB Clyde
Location in Argyll and Bute
United Kingdom adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
HMNB Clyde
HMNB Clyde (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates 56°03′58″N04°49′03″W / 56.06611°N 4.81750°W / 56.06611; -4.81750
TypeNaval base
Area87 hectares (210 acres)
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Navy
Controlled by Naval Base Commander, Clyde
ConditionOperational
Website HMMB Clyde - Royal Navy
Site history
Built1940s
In use1940s – present
Garrison information
Current
commander		 Commodore Sharon Malkin: December 2022 - Present [1]
Garrison Submarine Service

His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS Neptune), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It is the navy's headquarters in Scotland and is best known as the home of Britain's nuclear weapons, in the form of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles.

Contents

History

Faslane was first constructed and used as a base in the Second World War. During the 1960s, the British Government began negotiating the Polaris Sales Agreement with the United States regarding the purchase of a Polaris missile system to fire British-built nuclear weapons from five specially constructed submarines. In the end, only four were constructed; HMS Resolution, HMS Repulse, HMS Renown and HMS Revenge. These four submarines were permanently based at Faslane. [2]

Faslane itself was chosen to host these vessels at the height of the Cold War because of its geographic position, which forms a bastion on the relatively secluded but deep and easily navigable Gare Loch and Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. This position provides for rapid and stealthy access through the North Channel to the submarine patrolling areas in the North Atlantic, through the GIUK gap to the Norwegian Sea. At the time it was chosen, the location was also close to the American SSBN base at Holy Loch, which operated 1961–1992. One boat was always on patrol at any given time. [3]

In 1971 the base was home to the 3rd Submarine Squadron of Nuclear Fleet and Diesel Patrol Submarines, "the fighters", and the 10th Submarine Squadron consisting of the four Polaris submarines, "the bombers". [4]

In Command

Based vessels and units

The following notable vessels and units are based at Faslane. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Royal Navy

Commodore J. L. Perks OBE, Commander Submarine Flotilla/(Commodore Submarine Service (COSM)) [10]

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Royal Marines (3 Commando Brigade)

Serco Marine Services

  • Multicat 2613-class utility boat
    • SD Angeline
  • Coastal oilers
    • SD Oilman
    • SD Waterpress
  • Impulse-class tugs
    • SD Impulse (A344)
    • SD Impetus (A345)
  • ATD 2909-class tugs
    • SD Reliable
    • SD Resourceful
    • SD Dependable
  • STAN 2608-class tugs
    • SD Jupiter
  • Oban-class tenders
    • SD Oronsay
    • SD Omagh
  • Personnel ferries
    • SD Eva
  • STAN 1505-class tenders
    • SD Clyde Racer
  • STAN 1905-class tenders
    • SD Clyde Spirit

Ministry of Defence Police

  • Clyde Marine Unit
  • Nuclear Division (Faslane Station)
  • Central Support Group

Role and operations

HMS Vigilant alongside Faslane Naval Base. HMS Vigilant alongside Faslane Naval Base. MOD 45147682.jpg
HMS Vigilant alongside Faslane Naval Base.
HMS Astute arriving at Faslane for the first time. HMS Astute Arrives at Faslane for the First Time MOD 45150805.jpg
HMS Astute arriving at Faslane for the first time.

HMNB Clyde lies on the eastern shore of Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, to the north of the Firth of Clyde and 25 mi (40 km) west of Glasgow. The submarine base encompasses a number of separate sites, the primary two being:

Faslane is also a Defence Equipment and Support site, operated in dual site organisation with Great Harbour, Greenock, by Babcock Marine and Technology, [19] and managed by Serco Denholm. [20] [21] [22]

USS Arleigh Burke departing HMNB Clyde US Navy 050606-N-0000C-002 The guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) departs Clyde Naval Base in Faslane, Scotland.jpg
USS Arleigh Burke departing HMNB Clyde

The naval shore establishment at Faslane is HMS Neptune, Naval personnel appointed to the base who do not belong to a seagoing vessel make up Ship's Company. Both the Gareloch and Loch Long are sea lochs extending northwards from the Firth of Clyde. The base serves as home base to Britain's fleet of Vanguard-class nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines, as well as conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines, supported by the 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines. [23]

In command of HMNB Clyde is the Naval Base Commander (Clyde), Commodore Donald Doull, who succeeded Commodore Mark Gayfer in Summer 2018. [24] The base is home to a number of lodger units including Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI) (who is also Rear Admiral Submarines), the Northern Diving Group and the Scottish Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence Police. It is base to 3,000 service personnel, 800 of their families and 4,000 civilian workers, largely from Babcock Marine, forming a major part of the economy of Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire. [25]

By 2020 all 11 Royal Navy submarines will be based on the Clyde at Faslane, seeing the number of people directly employed at the base rising to 8,200. In 2018, the Secretary of State for Scotland at the time, David Mundell said: "The UK’s entire submarine fleet will be based at Faslane by 2020. This will reinforce Scotland’s vital role in protecting our country, and guarantee skilled, secure jobs on the Clyde for years to come." [26]

Safety and accidents at Faslane

Exercise Evening Star is the annual test of the emergency response routines to a nuclear weapon accident at Faslane. It is conducted by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. In 2011 the test failed as "a number of command and control aspects of the exercise were not considered to have been adequately demonstrated". [27]

In 2013–14 there were 99 radiation accidents concerning nuclear reactors, and 6 with nuclear weapons. These are the highest numbers for at least six years. The MoD maintains that there was no risk to the public as most of them were minor accidents. The SNP defence spokesman, Angus Robertson, called the figures "totally shocking". [28]

The MoD, however, argued that it was "entirely misleading" to focus only on the number of incidents, because they include "very minor issues such as the failure to fill out the correct form before painting works began." Indeed, the MOD stated that this "rigorous system shows how seriously MoD takes all aspects of nuclear safety, ensuring lessons are learned, and we can be clear that none of the events in the reports posed any risk to the health of our personnel, or to any members of the public." Indeed, one of the recorded events was the incorrect labelling of an empty pallet. Minor events were reported and investigated so that performance could be continuously improved. "This comprehensive, independent recording process allows Clyde to maintain a robust reporting culture, undertake learning from experience and to take early corrective action," the UK Defence Minister, Philip Dunne, told MPs. [29]

Anti-nuclear demonstrations

Given the presence of these nuclear capable missiles, Faslane has attracted demonstrations by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other Scottish pressure groups, including Trident Ploughshares. Since 1982, a permanent peace camp is outside the base gates, where there are frequent demonstrations and regular Wednesday protests. The presence of Faslane is also an issue in Scottish politics. [30]

The Scottish National Party (SNP), the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), and the Scottish Greens all oppose the deployment of nuclear weapons although the SNP have made assurances that they would retain the base for the servicing of conventionally armed and conventionally powered naval units. Members of those parties and indeed some from the Labour Party are often present at rallies. Also, some former independents, such as George Galloway attend rallies outside Faslane. [31]

Police dismantling a blockade of protesters from York at the south gate of the Faslane base York at Faslane South Gate DaveTaylor.jpg
Police dismantling a blockade of protesters from York at the south gate of the Faslane base

Faslane 365

The Faslane 365 campaign was a one-year protest at the base. It was a civil resistance initiative to apply critical public pressure for the disarmament of Britain's nuclear weapons. [32]

The campaign was launched in September 2006, with the first protest action commencing on 1 October 2006 carried out by a campaigning group of women associated with protests at Greenham Common. It formally ended with a "Big Blockade" on 1 October 2007. [33]

131 blockading groups took part in Faslane 365 and 1150 arrests were made. [32]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Naval base gets female commander in wake of submarine abuse accusations". telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Resolution". Global Security. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Successor submarine programme: factsheet". Ministry of Defence. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Royal Naval Engineers Benevolent Society, Society Members' Bulletin: Special Edition: HMS Courageous Archived 25 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine , September 2013, p.5
  5. ↑ "Clyde Naval Base". Royal Navy. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  6. ↑ "HMS Pursuer (P273)". Royal Navy. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "Queen's Harbour Master Cylde – Marine Unit". Royal Navy. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  8. ↑ "Marine Units". Ministry of Defence Police. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Central Support Group (CSG)". Ministry of Defence Police. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "Submariners Association Newsletter in Depth 67" (PDF). Submariners Association. 1 January 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "Sixth and final support boat delivered to Royal Navy diving group". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  12. ↑ "SEA Class Marine Craft". Atlas Elektronik. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  13. ↑ "A photo of RNMB HELLCAT conducting ROV missions yesterday taken by the crew of RNMB HEBE" . Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  14. ↑ @NavyLookout (13 February 2023). "Autonomous minehunting vessel RNMB Harrier has arrived in Bahrain and will be based on @RFACardiganBay" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 February 2023– via Twitter.
  15. ↑ "Royal Navy Fleet Poster p.21" (PDF). Navy News. February 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "Royal Navy autonomous mine hunting at the sharp end". Navy Lookout. 30 March 2023.
  17. ↑ "The Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 2023". Navy Lookout. 15 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  18. ↑ "Up close with RFA Stirling Castle – first of the navy's new motherships". Navy Lookout. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  19. ↑ "Babcock Marine Holds a Unique Export Position". Defpro. 2 September 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  20. ↑ "Marine Services Planning Agreement". Archived from the original on 28 April 2006.
  21. ↑ "Maritime Journal: Serco Denholm Awarded MOD Contract". Archived from the original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
  22. ↑ "Marine Services". Serco. Archived from the original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
  23. ↑ "43 Commando resurrected as historic Royal Marines unit returns". Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  24. ↑ "New hand takes the helm at Royal Navy's Clyde base near Helensburgh". Helensburgh Advertiser. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  25. ↑ "What do we know about Faslane, the home of Trident nuclear weapons?". BBC. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  26. ↑ "Faslane expansion plans 'well received in the local area', says MoD". UK Defence Journal. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  27. ↑ "HM Naval Base Clyde – Quarterly report for 1 July 2011 to 30 September 2011". Bootle: Office for Nuclear Regulation, Health and Safety Executive. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  28. ↑ "Radiation safety breaches up 50% in one year at Scotland's nuclear bomb bases". Herald Scotland. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  29. ↑ "Radiation safety breaches up 50% in one year at Scotland's nuclear bomb bases (From HeraldScotland)". Heraldscotland.com. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  30. ↑ Dickie, Mure (31 August 2015). "SNP rails against Osborne's Faslane investment". Financial Times. FT. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  31. ↑ "Faslane protest sparks 170 arrests". BBC. 22 October 2001. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  32. 1 2 "Faslane 365". Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  33. ↑ "Faslane 365 – the big blockade". Greenpeace. 2 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
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