Originally Posted by
SLXOwft
My understanding is there is one boat, Victorious, in the process of a LIFEX refit at Guz (she arrived in June 2023, and moved in to Number 9 Dock in the following February -Vanguard's took 3 1/2 years), another boat went into the Faslane lift in January, which leaves two; I suspect the problem lies in the fact the whole class was originally supposed to be out of service in 2024 - that coupled with never correcting the first Wilson government's error in cancelling Ramillies to give the flexibility and additional redundancy of a fifth boat. We would be in an even bigger mess if the Major government hadn't finally taken the decision to order Vengeance.
I think its actually down to two main things.
1. Vanguard had a completely unscheduled and unplanned refuelling due to issues found at Vulcan (subsequently found to be unnecessary), but doing so threw the entire programme into chaos. Vic will NOT undergo said refuelling so shouldn't take anywhere near as long.
2. A combination of the shiplift having been knackered (apparently) and a general shortage of ILS, which means that if any of the three not in deep upkeep have an issue, it becomes a big issue.
All of which ends up on the poor sundodgers doing the 200 day patrols - and we know where that leads eventually.