The Ministry of Defence has announced a major milestone in its Submarine Dismantling Project, with the removal of a large section from the decommissioned Royal Navy submarine Swiftsure at Rosyth Dockyard.
The achievement marks the first step in what will become the world’s first full dismantling of a nuclear-powered submarine using a novel and environmentally responsible methodology. Swiftsure is set to become the first Royal Navy boat to be fully dismantled by the end of 2026.
According to the MOD, the project has already removed and recycled over 500 tonnes of conventional waste, with expectations that 90% of the submarine’s total structure will be reused or recycled. The dismantling process was shaped by two rounds of public consultation in 2012 and 2015 and is being delivered by the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) in partnership with Babcock and Defence Equipment and Support’s Defence Recycling & Disposals Team (DRDT).
Sir Chris Gardner KBE, CEO of the Submarine Delivery Agency, described the fin removal as a “significant marker of progress”. He added: “Our colleagues continue to work tirelessly alongside our industry partners in Rosyth to deliver a proven dismantling method using this demonstrator vessel.”
Lorraine Russell, Senior Responsible Owner for the Submarine Disposals Programme, highlighted the project’s sustainability credentials, saying: “By recycling materials wherever possible, we’re ensuring these vessels that served the nation so well continue to provide value even after decommissioning.”
Alistair Hughes, Head of DRDT, added: “This sustainable solution has shown how we can extract the maximum value from surplus assets and improve Defence’s supply-chain resilience, whilst ensuring national security and prosperity remains at the core of what we do.”
Beyond its environmental and strategic benefits, the project also supports 200 highly skilled jobs at Rosyth and contributes to upskilling the next generation of nuclear industry professionals. It also delivers on a 2019 government commitment to the Public Accounts Committee to begin dismantling the UK’s legacy nuclear submarine fleet in a structured and safe manner.
High-quality steel recovered from the dismantled boats is already being repurposed for use in future submarine builds, helping close the loop on critical materials within the UK defence industrial base.
A job with a long term future!!!
Not so sure about that.. one thing a government can cut and throw into the long grass seems to be nuclear submarine dismantling.
I doubt that TBH.
There is money to be saved from getting on with it not wasting money on keeping them inspected and afloat.
It would give a lot of ammunition back to the anti nuclear crowd which turns into unwanted politic noise and optics.
As it is those basins need to be cleared.
Once the first one is done the next few will accelerate substantially – they are doing the easy ones first – that have no significant contamination. I sully agree that this is the best way to go just to get rid of the easy ones and gain experience. This also allows it to be done without a budget blowout.
I agree it’s a very good idea and needs doing.. simply stacking up decommissioned SSNs and SSBNs is not viable… but governments will sometimes make decisions that are not good in the longterm but save some pennies in year.. but they way defence spending is going and the need for a future NATO 3.5% +1.5% I think programs like this will be safe.. if in a decade the world sorts iself out or we have and win a massive war and defence spending plummets ( as it always does in those situations) then you could see these programmes suffer from the savings knife…
Haven’t I seen somewhere recently that there are plans for moving the dismantling to Teeside to free up facilities needed for keeping the working boats at sea?
Be better to focus things at Rosyth where it is all set up and space.
There will be good reasons why boats were in one place or the other. Various things need different dismantling strategies.
Can’t respond to supportive bloke but, we can’t put them all in Rosyth or we won’t be able to get carriers or other ships in and out
Reeves announced extra £15bn today for specific public transport projects…
remind me how much actually announced on Monday for defence?
Indeed.
1) This morning, The Defence Secretary said that 12 new subs actually meant ‘up to 12 depending on their costs’, and that those costs would not be known until into the 30’s.
2) The Treasury are nowhere near agreeing to any increase, let alone up to 3%, and Starmer/Reeves are no match for them.
3) NATO are demanding 3.5% + 1.5%, so all our plans are already out of date.
The SDR is toilet paper (no funding in place, missiles fired off carriers, arming 16 Protectors; give me a break) – by Monday the chain will have been pulled. I say all this with a heavy heart because a sensible SDR proposing a sensible increase in our defences was possible if the political support for the authors had been there. But it clearly wasn’t, hence this dog’s breakfast
I don’t want a fantasy fleet/airforce/army, just enough to deter an aggressor from trying it on and keeps Trump happy.
Treasury will agree a budget for SSNA.
How many SSNA will depend on decisons made.
As with T45 a £6Bn budget was allocated and at the time £500m for an AAW destroyer seemed reasonable.
Problem was that the cost of ASTER started to blow out
The usual hissy fits of HORIZON design started
UK left HORIZON
Had to fund Sea Viper itself
Had to fund SAMPSON itself
Hence where there was only funding for 7 T45 avaialbe.
And the first six had been ordered and BAE were not interested in making a singleton so we only ever got six
Dependant on next years election results for Scotland, there may be a major policy shift in regard to Submarine disposal.
My understanding it that currently because of the stance of the Scottish government, only the boats currently in Rosyth, will be dismantled there, with the rest being done at another location.
If the SNP majority is overturned, it would make sense to change tact and continue to use Rosyth as the centre of excellence for dismantling, and ship some more up from Devonport to free up the dock space down there, which at the moment is pretty jam packed.
Lets see what happens.
Quicker than building them, just.