Britain’s Submarine fleet has a long and distinguished record, always at the heart of this nation’s deterrence and defence policy. In 1900, the Royal Navy ordered its first five submarines – the Holland Class. In 1901, six officers were recruited for the Submarine Service under the leadership of Reginal Bacon, as the Inspecting Captain of Submarine.
And since those early days, Scotland has played a key role in the UK’s Submarine force. In 1909, Dundee became home to the 7th Submarine Flotilla. By 1914, the Submarine Service consisted of 168 officers, 1250 ratings and 62 submarines and the fleet was moved to Rosyth.
The Submarine Service has played a vital role in protecting our shores in times of conflict.
In particular, the role of the Submarine Service in World War One should not be forgotten with five of the 14 Victoria Cross’s awarded to the Royal Navy during the conflict, being awarded to Submariners.
While the focus of the naval war in World War 2 is often on the Battle of the Atlantic, I was fascinated to learn by listening to the excellent podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk with Al Murray and Tom Holland, of the vital role of British submarines in the Mediterranean.
HMS Upholder sank around 119,000 tons of enemy shipping ships. It was commanded for its entire life by Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm Wanklyn, one of the most successful Submarine Commanders of the conflict and who received the Victoria Cross for attacking a well defended convoy in May 1941.
The Cold War saw the submarine fleet play a key part of deterrence and intelligence gathering capability. HMS Swiftsure, became famous for her mission to acquire the acoustic signature of the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev, with her raised periscope just 10 feet under the aircraft carrier’s hull.
In the Falklands, HMS Conqueror became the first, and to this day, the only British nuclear-powered submarine to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes.
After the attacks in the US on September 11, HMS Trafalgar and HMS Triumph played a vital role in hitting Al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and throughout submarines have extensive capabilities and roles assisting UK Special Forces in their vital missions.
While we remember those who have served, it is important that we pay tribute those in the Submarine Service today. the Royal Navy currently operates a fleet of nine submarines with a little over 1100 submariners.
Four of those nine submarines are the Vanguard class that comprises the UK’s vital at-sea independent nuclear deterrent. The other five are nuclear powered Astute class submarines, with the capability of launching conventional Tomahawk Cruise Missiles at land-based targets and Spearfish torpedoes and maritime targets.
The submarine fleet capability is spread across the UK. Faslane in Scotland is the home base for the entire fleet. Devonport undertakes major refit, maintenance, and decommissioning. Barrow-in-Furness is the manufacturing location of both Astute and the next Dreadnought class.
At Rosyth, in my own constituency, Babcock are undertaking work on the submarine dismantling programme and manufacturing missile tubes for both the US Navy and the Royal Navy.
The Babcock team at Rosyth has been undertaking a demonstrator project to dismantle HMS Swiftsure in a safe, secure, and environmental way. This will lead to 90% of Swiftsure being reused or recycled and the remainder safely disposed of.
This kind of work is not being done anywhere else in the world and currently employs over 200 people in my constituency.
This knowledge and experience, along with the highly skilled roles needed means there is an opportunity to use the demonstrator project to establish Rosyth as a centre of excellence for submarine dismantling.
I was pleased the Minister confirm that the MoD would continue to work with me and other local stakeholders such as Fife Council, College, and Babcock to continue and accelerate the dismantling work at Rosyth.
The role of submarines in history has been varied and indeed the flexibility of the fleet is one of its strengths but the fleet is critical.
We are living in an increasingly volatile and unstable world and, sadly, it feels likely that our armed forces could be required to play an increased role in deterring our opponents and supporting our allies around the world in coming years. I was glad that there was cross party support at the debate for continuing to protect the need for the Submarine Service and that the support for the Submarine Service will continue.
In this increasingly volatile world the UK’s Submarine Service has never been more important
