HMS Talent has arrived from her former home at HM Naval Base Devonport.
The UK’s entire submarine fleet will be based at Faslane by 2020.
The Royal Navy say that the vessel, which completed a multi-million pound refit at Devonport in June last year, will now join Astute-class submarines HMS Astute, HMS Ambush, HMS Artful, and Vanguard-class boats HMS Vanguard, HMS Victorious, HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance as part of the Faslane Flotilla at HM Naval Base Clyde.
According to a Royal Navy news release:
“HM Naval Base Clyde will be home to all of the UK’s submarines by 2020. As one of the largest employers in Scotland, it is increasing the number of people employed there from around 6,800 now to approximately 8,200 by 2022.
The move of the last two Trafalgar class submarines, HM Submarines Talent and Triumph, to the Clyde in 2019 and 2020 from Devonport (Plymouth). By putting our boats and training in one place, our submariners can put down roots in Scotland knowing that they are no longer required to commute from one end of the country to another.”
In 2015, £500 million of upgrade work funding was announced HM Naval Base Clyde. The investment was be spent on ship lifts, sea walls, jetties and other major projects to support the basing of all UK submarines.
Down to six fleet subs with Audacious out of the picture.
It will be 6 into the future. I can’t see Astute remaining in service one the last two production A-boats are in service.
6 is not enough.
France is buying 6 new boats to replace their previous 6.
Why? Planning is for 7 Astute class. If it was 6 we would cancel the 7th and keep the 1st which would be cheaper faster and free up capacity for the SSBN build (which is facing delays).
Yeah the plans for 7 Astutes in future, bear minimum, but high quality assets.
£1.4 billion for 1 astute? £100 million for the swedish gotland type conventional powered boats 14 gotlands for the price of 1 astute? i’d go for the gotland, a submarine that pierced an entire u.s battlegroup undetected and launched a four torpedo simulated attack and then snuck away with the u.s.n unaware it had happened, they were so impressed they rented one to see how to find them!!!!!
and jinxed.
and never has been, the taxpayer paid millions for the tomahawk upgrade on the swiftsures who were still in service as recently as the libyan conflict i wonder if the ‘nuke stuff’ could be removed as a single block, additional generation and propulsion installed, and then recommissioned as diesel boats
Excuse my ignornance but why is Audacious out of the picture when I didn’t think it was in service yet?
Because she was meant to commission last year to take the submarine service back up to 11 active boats. However, her trials and acceptance into service have stalled – just as the next T boat nears its decommissioning date.
Thanks
I can confirm that because she is doing lazy circles each day right outside my window.
Still think we should retain a few Trafalgar Class as a second best option to additional Astute boats. Not sure how crewing is but still… We desperately need the hulls in my opinion. These are the real teeth of the RN. Everything else is just flag waving in reality.
Seven Astutes, three reconditioned Trafalgars.
I wonder how the families like this move.
they won’t even have been given consideration.
I know its submerged time not age but these boats are nearly 30 years old.
Yeah 30 odd years is a fair amount of time to sit in water refit or not. other nations can and have kept second hand submarines going for longer but do they use them like the RN does or to just willy wave!. Shame we can’t order 3 more Astutes or even just one extra.
You can’t expect submariners to throw the dice everytime they go on patrol in a 40 year old sub. If a ship breaks down at sea it can be towed home. If a sub breaks down submerged you’ve just lost 100 men (and women).
Yeah, luckily enough we have an amazing submarine rescue system based at faslane, And wasn’t it a Brit that invented the submarine survival suit from depth.
A survival suit is nice when you boat sinks in the North Sea. Almost anywhere else will be misplaced hope.
a brit has designed everything of note from the days of the industrial revolution
waste of money, google the upholder class submarine built for the royal navy,(all 4 of them sold to canada in the 80’s having given the u.k an average service of ONE year still in service with canada as the victoria class, all the mothballed swiftsures and trafalgars should be refitted and used as conventional diesel boats.
Swiftsure/Trafalgar class would be a waste of money. Last swiftsure was decommissioned in 2010 and has been laid afloat with minimum maintenance since. To convert to diesel, you’d have to clear the RC of radioactive material (by which time you’ve cut plenty of great big holes in the pressure Hull, and then fit the diesels here (no space anywhere else), you’d then have to connect in the diesels to the drive system, again tricky and not cheap.
Be quicker and cheaper to build some new coastal diesel subs (for defence of UK waters).
I must wonder with 52% of the population of Scotland now in support of independence following the Brexit fiasco and an SNP government there intent on calling another independence referendum, how long these submarines will be there for? There was a radio programme on the other day and the administrators of this very website were on there correcting the programme about Royal Naval frigate contracts in Scotland.
Why are my perfectly respectable postings being removed please?
I cannot help but think that putting all our subs in one place is like putting all our eggs in on basket…
Also what if Scotland goes independent at some point? We should be building a alternative base in England – Barrow?
The one base thing just looks like a single point of failior.
Rob N
Falmouth or Milford Haven.
Better access to Western Approaches and deep water, lower population density.
Those were among the many places on the west coast considered when Polaris was being obtained.
Milford Haven will never happen, unless It goes Electric.
milford haven? don’t they still use candles there?
What’s wrong with Devonport? It already has facility’s doesn’t it? Will they lose all facilities ect when all Subs are eventually based in Scotland.
No, not big enough to cope with 6 SSN and 4 SSBNs. Not big enough for the crew accommodation and support infrastructure.
if you lived in one of the ‘slum like’ married quarters up there. it couldn’t come fast enough
return and reopen the traditional home of the royal navy fleet,dolphin
Faslane will be a RN base even if Scotland goes independent, I’m scottish and I voted to stay in the Union and so did many others that’s why we stayed, it was once in a generation vote and that’s why we shouldn’t and won’t have another for a very long time, hopefully the SNP are well gone from Scottish politics by then. We are far stronger together.
here here! stronger in numbers
and will be begging from england and wales, because scotland would be utterly broke within 5 years the last referendum cost the u.k over a billion £’s the scottish parliament should be told to fund the next.
nd will be begging from england and wales, because scotland would be utterly broke within 5 years the last referendum cost the u.k over a billion £’s the scottish parliament should be told to fund the
Well, we Jimmy Krankie just lost a massive backer up here, so maybe we wont need to redo democracy again because some people didnt like the answer they got first time.
if there is another referendum anytime, then the scots should be told to fund it, the last one cot over 20£m most coming from south of the border.
Every time there is a topic about Scotland you do nothing but post derogatory remarks. You might be as well just ignore them if you can’t actually contribute.
Not all Scottish folk want independence, and more than a few have served. Some have even been injoured in service just like the English, Irish and Welsh.
There are good and bad folk everywhere…so give it a rest!
stupid analogy talking about bad people what about the lazy, slow, builders on the clyde 4 years to build an opv? a joke.and numbers of dead people is pathetic forget it.
i hope the jocks do go independent. especially if the u.k(england). close their inept, and dismally slow production at the clyde yards. its been a political ‘sop’ to the S.N.P and the scottish unions that they’ve been given the contracts they have, i’ve no issues with our warships being built abroad. if the quality of build, is good enough and the build rate faster than the clyde it’ll do for me.
the whole submarine service was based at h.m.s dolphin for many,many years.alternative, the clyde BAE shipyards.
maybe you should spell better!!! only kiddin dude!
Hms otter… The days
I WORRY ABOUT TRAFALGARS BEING RETIRED, MY SON WAS ON THE PREVIOUSLY RETIRED TORBAY, HE TOLD ME THE CONSENSUS AT THE ADMIRALTY WAS THAT THE TRAFALGARS COULD EASILY OPERATE FOR ANOTHER 8 YEARS OR SO,LIKE THE TYPE 22’S AND ARK ROYAL, WESELL OR RETIRE VESSELS WITH FAR LESS SERVICE THAN OTHER NATIONS DO.I REMEMBER THE SCANDAL SURROUNDING THE UPHOLDER CLASS SUBMARINES,ALL 4 UPHOLDER,URSULA UNSEEN AND UNICORN SERVED A MAXIMUM OF three years EACH, THEN SOLD TO CANADA WHO STILL OPERATE THEM AS THE VICTORIA CLASS, THIS THEORY IS BACKED UP BY THE AMOUNT(6) EX R.N TYPE 22’S STill in service with romania, chile and brazil.there was talk before the type 45’s were built, that the type 22 could, with artisan,sea ceptor,upgrades be redesignated as destroyers and kept in service with the u.k
short service careers with the R.N a repurchase and upgrade makes perfect sense