Falkland Patrol – an intrinsic part of the defence of the Falkland Islands is the ability to commit a Fleet Submarine to patrol the patrol the area and the MoD policy of not reporting the movements of our nuclear submarines this always becomes a grey area. The Daily Express reported under the headlines of “No British Submarines to Patrol Falkland Islands” and reporting that the Royal Navy is finding it “increasingly difficult” to deploy a nuclear submarine to patrol British waters around the Falkland Islands.
The recent “the forced return of the Fleet Submarine TIRELESS is reportedly leaving the Royal Navy with only one, the TRENCHANT, (of the five) TRAFALGAR Class as being operational and that is about to undergo a brief period of maintenance after duties in the Middle East. The TIRELESS, dubbed HMS TIRED, was apparently forced to return to base last month (February 2013) due to a coolant leak in its nuclear reactor and sources suggest it could be out of action for 10 months. Given that the TIRELESS was due to be withdrawn in 2013 maybe the vessel will leave service early. The rest of the Fleet Submarine Force is accounted for by the Newspaper as under:-
Out of Service Date Net Book Value per MoD
2013 TIRELESS – Undergoing Repairs £ 10 million
2015 TORBAY - Undergoing Maintenance £ 124 million
2017 TRENCHANT – Operational “East of Suez” £ 215 million
2019 TALENT - is awaiting decommissioning ? £ 315 million
2022 TRIUMPH - is being used for Training - Refit pending ? £ 396 million
and
ASTUTE - still not fully operational £ 1,170 million
AMBUSH - still not fully operational TBA
Surely this will be a continuing problem as in the near term only the ARTFUL will join the fleet in 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment