Infrastructure upgrades at the Royal Navy’s submarine base on the Clyde must be delivered at pace or the UK risks failing its AUKUS obligations, the House of Commons Defence Committee has warned in a report published today.
The report reveals that none of the five Astute-class submarines in service completed an operational deployment in the first half of 2024.
The report paints a stark picture of the pressure on the Clyde facility, noting that some submarines had been “waiting for maintenance for more than two years because of a shortage of facilities at HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport, as well as the prioritisation of the Vanguard-class submarines which provide the UK’s continuous at-sea deterrence.”
The committee also notes reports that patrol durations for the Vanguard-class have lengthened as a consequence, with concern expressed about the negative effect on crew welfare of spending increasingly longer periods at sea.
Major investment has been pledged to address the availability crisis, with multi-billion-pound upgrades underway at both submarine bases.
The government has committed £4.4 billion of investment into Devonport, and a £750 million contract was signed with Babcock in 2023 to construct new facilities for the Royal Navy’s attack submarines, including SSN-AUKUS. The committee visited both bases during the course of its inquiry.
The sustainment findings form part of the committee’s wider AUKUS report, which found that political leadership of the programme had faded and called on the Prime Minister to take a more visible role in driving it forward, warning that failure to meet AUKUS commitments would have severe implications both for UK defence and security and for the UK’s standing with its trilateral partners.
Frankly the Royal Navy has all the hallmarks of a busted flush. A bit like the country itself.
Harsh words? Well consider the realities.
Two multi billion pound aircraft carriers that broke down after launch, that never became fully operational and are now being considered for scrapping.
Or the type 45 warships everyone of which broke down, had technical faults and had to be taken out of service.
Or the submarines all now desperate for maintenance.
Its a grim reflection of a country that has a huge skill shortage and produces little. Draw the comparison with countries such as China that produce everything and you see what a poor ill trained and produce little declining country we are.
And look at our own backyard.here in WDC. Not exactly an economic success story. A council area with the highest benefit levels in all of Scotlsnd and something like 8th in all of the UK. Poor and proud but whose fault is it?
It’sa good question as the local politicos play ya boo at each other telling us how if we vote for them next Thursday they will make everything all OK.
But you know what, its all tosh. The country is rotten from the very head down. Prince Andrew, and Mandelson being the latest but by no means the only examples.
The family silver has been sold long time past.