A U.S. Navy Los Angeles class submarine arrived at Faslane naval base on the River Clyde in Scotland today.

The US Navy previously said that port visits “strengthen cooperation between the United States and United Kingdom”, and “demonstrate US capability, flexibility, and continuing commitment to NATO allies.”

The below image was captured by Sheila Weir, a maritime photographer based in the area. You can find her on Twitter here, I recommend you give her a follow.

Los Angeles class submarines are the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s submarine force and are equipped with 12 Vertical Launch System tubes for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The submarine is now berthed at HMNB Clyde. The base is sited at Faslane in the west of Scotland not far from Glasgow, one of Britain’s largest cities. It’s one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth. It is best known as the home of Britain’s nuclear weapons, in the form of nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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30 COMMENTS

  1. “One Ping” …… USS Dallas was the boat in Tom Clancy’s book/film…. He estimated her to have a top speed of 37 knots…. I just did a Wiki !!!

      • Certainly not I would guess…. Interesting to see that these boats have been in service for some 50 years now and some individual boats have been operated for 40 years…..

        I always have to wonder if a Sub launched a 30 knot Torpedo whilst doing 37 knots, would it not destroy itself ???? …. These things do tend to occupy my otherwise empty brain at times….. !!!

        If a Typhoon launched a Mach 2 Meteor whilst doing Mach 2 itself…. would the Meteor even leave the rack ???? ….. You have to wonder about these things….😂 😂😂

        • Doesn’t Meteor do about mach 4 for most of its flight? No problem there.
          A more pressing issue might be with Brimstone. It’s rail launched so you can’t just drop it off backwards and has a top speed of, according to Wikipedia, mach 1.3. I would assume it just gets stuck on the rail?
          Subs it might be different as it gets launched out of the tube then the motor fires up. Similar thing with meteor though; Spearfish (again according to Wikipedia) does 80 knots so no worries there! No idea what they’d do in the case of a motor not firing when launching on the move.

          • It’s all very perplexing though…. I’m not going to sleep well tonight that’s for sure !!!!! 😂

          • Wrt Spearfish, the discharge phase pushes the weapon out of the tube, as it leaves, a lanyard is pulled which starts said motor, so it is spinning up as it exits. It then goes through a series of post discharge manoeuvers before going on its merry way. You can send it commands whilst in this phase, but it wont act on them until its completed them – it doesnt take that long.

          • If the motor doesnt spin up on discharge, then the weight of the torpedo sinks it, but it will be clear of the hull, as it drops on discharge(due to weight) before the motor starts propelling it.

          • But that’s so much more boooring!
            We need more excitement when launching nearly a tonne of explosive out of a literal nuclear power station 200m under the North Atlantic!

          • Please feel free to come and have a go when they are conducting torpedo firings, its a bit of fun.😂

        • Hi Frank, you cant launch a torpedo at 30 odd knots mate, far to fast. There is a launch window for Spearfish(assume all others too), not that speed though.

          Those LA boats have been good servants, but are getting a bit long in the tooth now and noisy, costing increasing amounts to keep running. The issue is the US cant match build rate with decommissioning rate, so end up spending vast amounts to keep old units running – sound familiar?

          • Hello mate…. I was mostly but not really just thinking it was possible…. the vast part of me was just trying to impart a modicum of Questioning…… It’s just something that has offered a bit of confusion over the years though…..😆

          • Exactly, US also guilty of believing ‘peace dividend’ hype for far too long. Contractors will be required to produce 2.33 boats/yr. to support AUKUS requirements (including sales of Virginia class to Oz). Recent construction data reveal a rate of 1.5 boats/yr. Significant disconnect. USN has a recovery plan, time will hopefully validate viability. 🤞

            Equally sporting a proposition will be the development and production of SSN (AUKUS) on the mandated timeline. 🤔😳

          • Yes interesting times ahead for us both!

            Would like to believe/think that we will be able to manage given that all of our Deadnoughts will have been built by then. The US on the other hand will still be building your new SSBNs for a few more years yet – which unfortunately detracts from the SSN build. Fingers crossed and all that though.

        • It depends. A missile will start at the speed Of the aircraft and the rocket motor should accelerate it from that initial speed so you should be ok unless the drag is so high on the missile its thrust cannot accelerate it or at least keep it ahead long enough for paths to diverge (seems inlikely).

          A bullet on the other hand is ballistic and should start slowing down as soon as it leaves the barrel. If the muzzle velocity is not much faster than the aircraft then you could catch up the bullet. I have heard rumour of this happening at least once for a diving aircraft but don’t have any firm evidence….

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