"Royal Navy Faced With Tough Sub Choices If ..." Topic

…Scotland Leaves U.K.

"The heart of the United Kingdom's nuclear submarine enterprise could be cut out if Scotland leaves the U.K. in Thursday's referendum on Scottish independence, British leaders have warned repeatedly over the last several months.

Scots voting "Yes" for independence say they're happy to see the subs go.
At issue are the Royal Navy's four Vanguard-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines (SSBN) and their payloads stationed at Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, tucked into a narrow bay in Scotland's Southwest…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

This is only an issue if they vote Yes we find out result tomorrow

if Yes then the scottish government have gven the rest of th eUK to relocate within 5 years, there are seveal alternate locations, the issue is th estorage and security of missles this will take more than 5 years to build and setup

the scots want to be nuclear free but also a Nato member th eUs will also frown on them forcing this move too probably

but these issues will be discussed in the 2 years + they have given to discuss between the vote and independance so we will see ( they are not indelpendent straight away lots to sort out first)

Anyway I expect they will vote no (hopefully) and this will not be an issue anyway

Al

"the scots want to be nuclear free but also a Nato member th eUs will also frown on them forcing this move too probably"

As I understand it there is a But, and it's a rather significant But. If (assuming a Yes vote of course) the rUK holds to its stated position of being the continuing State, and why wouldn't it, then Scotland would become a new State (obviously), and under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty no new state can have nuclear weapons.

link

the UK is a signatory so a neat cleft stick issue.

That aside, given the geographical position of Scotland and the fact that NATO is mainly but not exclusively about the North Atlantic can anyone seriously think that NATO will say no IF an independent Scotland applies?

Let the counties choose who stays with England and who goes it worked in Ireland.

"Let the counties choose who stays with England and who goes it worked in Ireland."

a. its a bit late for that

b. it worked in Ireland? really? one civil war, decades of civil unrest and thousands of dead later.

wrt Trident, I'm sure we'll build a nice new shiny base for them in rUK, lots of money, lots of jobs. Hopefully it won't come to that though.

Search "Irony" and get back with me

If they split will Scotland get any of the British army, navy or airforce, or will they have to start anew?

If they split will Scotland get any of the British army, navy or airforce, or will they have to start anew?

RN or RAF is likely to be a 'get your own' case, but the British Army is set up so that the various regiments all recruit from the area the regiment is based. So a 'yes' vote would mean that the Scotland-based regiments couldn't recruit there anymore.

But how many of those in the various Scottish regiments would actually want to stay in the British Army versus becoming part of the Scottish Army is a real question.

Scotland have said the UK should give them 12 Euro fighters as nd some naval ships plus support

So the Royal(?) Scottish Air Force would be 6 working planes?

I can certainly see the desire for some former-RN hulls, as arguably the Scots paid for part of their construction, but I wasn't aware that the RN had enough hulls to be able to part with any…

Per Wiki, of the 77 commissioned hulls in the RN, 19 are modern major combatants (6 Destroyers and 13 Frigates), and of the remaining number there are 10 subs, 3 amphibious ships, 15 minesweepers, and 22 patrol boats. For those counting, the last 6 hulls are 4 survey ships, HMS Bristol, and HMS Victory.

I can't see the RN giving up or the Scots wanting any subs or amphibs, so that leaves the big hulls, the minesweepers, and the patrol boats. The most I could see the RN parting with is 1 DDG, 2 FFGs, maybe a couple minesweepers and 3 or 4 patrol boats. And I suspect the Scots would balk at the price of maintenance and crew.