Originally Posted by
Timelord
It’s not so much where to berth the subs that’s the problem but where to store / handle the warheads. The Coulport facility, when it was being built, was described as the biggest civil engineering project in Europe.
Once a suitable berth has been located, and agreed upon (which in reality means the Southwest Peninsular of England).
The size of a storage /handling facility could be addressed. This need not be of the size and cost of the Coulport Facility.
Fewer smaller warheads are now in use and storage may be shared with the production facility.
We may not require all of the 65 missiles we used to lease from US stocks for the next boat.
Missile storage needs to be secure but does that require the deep-hardening first-strike survival measures of the Cold War?
The new facilities could be safe clean and efficient with perhaps a third aspect – decommissioning of the subs we have in ‘storage’.
Naturally the Government will draft a flawed contract which will overrun both time and cost, leading to cuts and compromises. One can hope for a better outcome.
As for the cost of re-building Lossie, it may all be in vain after all if the fleet of P-8’s move to St Mawgan to be nearer the subs.