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"Faslane" redirects here, for other meanings, see Faslane (disambiguation). Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde is the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Scotland, best known as the home of the United Kingdom's strategic deterrent submarine force. The base is actually two separate locations: Faslane is also a Defence Logistics Organisation port, operated in dual site organisation with Great Harbour, Greenock, by Serco Denholm.
Faslane Naval Base Faslane Naval Base, situated on the Gare Loch, along with the RN Armaments Depot COULPORT on Loch Long make up HM Naval Base CLYDE. The Faslane site includes HMS ''Neptune'' as the Fleet Accommodation Centre thereby retaining a long Naval link with that name. Both the Gareloch and Loch Long are sea lochs extending northwards from the Firth of Clyde. The base serves as home base to the United Kingdom's fleet of Trident nuclear powered and armed submarines, as well as conventional nuclear powered submarines, supported by the Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines. Faslane was first constructed and used as a base in World War II. During the 1960s, the United Kingdom began negotiations with the United States of America regarding the purchase of a Polaris nuclear missile system to be fired from 5 specially constructed submarines. In the end, only four were constructed; ''Resolution'', ''Repulse'', ''Renown'' and ''Revenge''. These four submarines were permanently based at Faslane. One boat was always on patrol at any given time. In times of political instability, sometimes two boats would be deployed at sea. Vanguard class SSBNs In the 1980s, the British Government announced plans to replace the Polaris submarines with the newly developed Trident missile system, also to be based at Faslane. These submarines were named: Swiftsure class SSNs Faslane is also home to the Swiftsure class of hunter-killer submarines (SSNs). The Swiftsure class is the older of the two SSN classes of the Royal Navy and is due to be replaced by the Astute class submarines. Other vessels The Royal Navy has announced that the ''Astute''-class SSN will also be based at Faslane. Also based there are the Mine countermeasure vessels of the 1st MCM Squadron. The patrol vessels of the Northern Ireland Squadron were based at Faslane from 1993 until the squadron was decommissioned in July 2005. The base is the headquarters of Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland (FOSNNI), Naval Base Commander (Commodore) and Captain HMS Neptune. It is base to 3,000 service personnel, 800 of their families and 4,000 civilian workers. Anti-nuclear demonstrations
Faslane Peace Camp Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent camp outside the base. It has been occupied continuously since 1982. It is planned to close in 2007. Big Blockades The Big Blockade at Faslane Naval Base is an annual event held since 1999 usually in the 2nd week of February, aiming to close the base for 24 hours. The event attracts thousands of peace activists and has on occasion resulted in more than 350 arrests Faslane 365 Faslane Naval Base is currently blockaded, with the intention that this action will run for a year, using autonomous groups of 100 members. A launch of the action was held in September 06 with action commencing 1st October 2006 by a campaigning group of women associated with Greenham Common. Arrests were made on 2nd October, 12 women, and 9th October, 7 unspecified people. On 16th October 23 Swedes and 19 Finns, were arrested. RNAD Coulport The Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) at Coulport, Loch Long is the other major part of HMNB Clyde. RNAD Coulport stores conventional armaments for Royal Navy vessels but is best known for its role in the Trident missile system. Nuclear weapon storage bunkers have been excavated from a ridge. From here British-designed and built nuclear warheads can be fitted to the Trident missiles (built by Lockheed Martin). Whilst the warheads themselves are British-owned and built, the delivery system is not actually owned by the United Kingdom and instead it has ownership rights to some 58 missiles from a "pool" shared with the U.S. Navy, this is a necessary capability. Whole missiles can be lifted out of or into a submarine, however the missiles are normally serviced at the U.S. Navy facility at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia. Initial construction took place between 1963, when Faslane was chosen as the new Polaris base, and 1968, when the first Polaris boat began its patrol. Safety considerations required that the armament maintenance and storage facility have its own berth and be at least 4,400 feet from the main facility, whilst operational considerations dictated that the two facilities should be within an hour's sailing time. Coulport, on the opposite peninsula, met both of these requirements. Additional construction took place during the 80s to support the Trident missile programme. Notes | ||||||||||
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