Monthly Archives: January 2013

Devonport – Nuclear accident at Dockyard “would cause thousands of deaths” campaigners say

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  1. ​HMS Vanguard, one of the Trident-carrying submarines, arriving at Devonport naval base

    HMS Vanguard, one of the Trident-carrying submarines, arriving at Devonport naval base

THE Ministry of Defence has not ruled out the possibility of moving Britain’s nuclear armed submarines to the Devonport naval base, despite safety concerns from campaigners.

The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) asked the MOD whether the fleet of armed Vanguard class submarines carrying Trident missiles could move from its current home in Faslane in Scotland to Devonport.

The response stated that neither the Devonport Naval Base nor the dockyard would safely permit the berthing of an armed Vanguard submarine.

But the campaigners were also told the MOD’s internal safety watchdog, the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, “has not provided any advice” on the feasibility of docking a Vanguard class submarine at Devonport.

John Ainslie, co-ordinator of Scottish CND, has drawn up a report looking at the risk of nuclear contamination in Plymouth in the event of a serious accident.

He told The Herald: “If Scotland were to go independent there are questions over what would happen to Trident. I have always been a bit wary about how easy it would be to move them.

“I was thinking they would have real problems basing them at Devonport because of the whole safety issue.

“You have got such a high population close to the submarine base at Devonport, there would be a very serious risk of fatalities and so forth.

“A missile accident at Devonport, in the centre of Plymouth, could result in thousands of deaths.

“In addition, a large proportion of the city would be abandoned for hundreds of years.”

Scotland is due to vote on independence in 2014, and the SNP has stated it hopes to remove Trident missiles from Faslane.

But an MOD spokesman said there are currently no plans to move the submarine fleet.

Ian Ballantyne, editor of Warships magazine, said in the event of Scottish independence Devonport would be the only feasible alternative for the submarines.

“They already spend years of their lives here, they already come and go and get re-fitted at Devonport,” he said.

“If Scotland goes independent and says ‘take your nuclear submarines away’ then they would have to operate from Devonport. “There is no way if we are a nation that operates nuclear submarines they would go anywhere else.”

Source – This is Plymouth

China – Submarine drill in Yellow Sea

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Recently, a maritime protection and rescue flotilla of the North China Sea Fleet under the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a submarine rescue and lifesaving drill in the waters of the Yellow Sea. The success of this drill marks that the flotilla has the ability to conduct deep sea rescue for all types of submarines of the PLA Navy.

Source – China.org

Russia, Sweden to Conduct Sub Rescue Drills

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Russia, Sweden to Conduct Sub Rescue Drills

Russia, Sweden to Conduct Sub Rescue Drills


Russian and Swedish naval forces will hold a joint submarine rescue exercise, a Baltic Fleet spokesman said on Saturday.

Later this year experts from the Baltic Fleet’s search and rescue division, in conjunction with Swedish Navy specialists, will rehearse a search and rescue operation for a submarine in distress, Capt. 2nd Rank Vladimir Matveyev said.

The exercise will be conducted under a preliminary agreement reached between Baltic Sea chief Vice Admiral Viktor Kravchuk and Swedish Navy commander Rear Admiral Jan Thörnqvist during their meeting in Kaliningrad this past October.

The exercise will involve the search for “a submarine in distress” lying on the seabed, the exploration of its hull with the use of remote controlled submersibles and the rescue of its crew.

Source – RIANOVOSTI

 

The Launch Of Russia’s New ‘Silent’ Sub Is Just One Step In Rebuilding Its Mighty Military

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Borey

Russia recently launched its near silent nuclear submarine following several years of development. 

The Borey Class submarine, dubbed Vladimir Monomakh, has a next generation nuclear reactor, can dive deeper than 1,200 feet, and carries up to 20 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

Each of these “Bulava” ICBM’s can carry ten detachable MIRV warheads, what they call “re-entry vehicles,” capable of delivering 150 kiloton yields per warhead (luckily, tests of the warheads only yielded 11 “successes” out of almost 20 attempts). Which doesn’t mean they aren’t a concern, MIRV’s are what shook the Cold War to its foundation when they first appeared in the 1970s.

And the Kremlin’s not dissuaded or slowing down with plans to build eight additional Borey’s over the next year, at a very reasonable cost of about $700 million each.

The sub is just one portion of a larger effort at re-arming the Russian navy — the Defence Ministry allocated another $659 billion — for another 50 new warships as well.

Russia’s currently engaged in its largest Naval exercise “in decades,” involving four of its fleets — maneuvering within the Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and the Northern and Pacific Oceans. The exercise is an attempt to strengthen its presence in the Mediterranean.

Finally, Russia launched a new “Voronezh-DM class anti-missile radar system” along its southern borders in what some analysts believe is a response to U.S. Patriot missile systems in Turkey.

One in a string of building responses to what it sees as U.S. provocations within a sphere of the world it’s eager again to take control.

 

Borey

Source – Business Insider

 

Australia – Past submarine mistakes make a case for going nuclear

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  • HMAS Dechaineux and HMAS Waller

RAN Collins-class submarines Dechaineux and Waller in an exercise off the West Australian coast. The fleet has been plagued with problems. Picture: Australian Defence Force Source: Supplied

Julia Gillard on Collins-class submarine

Julia Gillard is shown around a Collins-class submarine.

Virginia-class attack submarine

A US Virginia-class attack submarine, which could be leased.

ON Tuesday, the National Archives released the 1985 cabinet submission that led to the decision to build six Collins-class submarines in Adelaide. A key question is whether the lessons from that experience have been learned by the current government as it moves to buy a new class of replacement submarines for the navy. Continue reading →

Norfolk-based submarine commander relieved

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 USS Montpelier and USS Jacinto

The commander of the submarine USS Montpelier has been relieved after an investigation into a collision at sea that occurred off the Florida coast in October, the Navy announced Friday.

Cmdr. Thomas Winter was relieved due to loss of confidence in his ability to command, the Navy said. He has been reassigned to administrative duties at Submarine Force Atlantic in Norfolk.

Cmdr. Stephen Mongold will assume all duties as commanding officer of the Montpelier. Mongold previously served as executive assistant for the commander of the Submarine Force.

Capt. Blake Converse, commander of Submarine Squadron Six, relieved Winter

The Norfolk-based submarine collided with the guided-missile cruiser USS Jacinto during routine operations on Oct. 13. No one was injured in the mishap.

The main cause of the crash was “human error, poor teamwork by the Montpelier watch team, and the commanding officer’s failure to follow established procedures for submarines operating at periscope depth,” according to a Navy press release.

The investigation also revealed unspecified “contributing factors” that relate to training and oversight within Fleet Forces Command.

Source – Daily Press

MoD: Trident submarines cannot be moved from Scotland to Plymouth

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Devonport is ruled out as home for submarines, raising questions over future of fleet if Scotland votes for independence

Trident submarine

A Vanguard-class submarine carrying Trident missiles at Faslane naval base in Scotland.

Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines cannot be moved from Scotland to the Devonport naval base in Plymouth because they do not have safety clearances to dock there.

The disclosure has huge implications for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) if Scotland votes for independence and a new government demands the withdrawal of the nuclear fleet.

The MoD has revealed that the safety arrangements for Devonport do not permit the presence of submarines carrying Trident nuclear warheads. The MoD’s safety experts are not considering changing that.

The problem is that the dockyard is in a densely populated area and, if there were an accident, thousands of people would be put at risk. The worst accident scenario envisaged by the MoD would kill up to 11,000 people in Plymouth and would not meet the official criteria for what is acceptable, according to a new report.

The Scottish government, which is run by the Scottish National party, has said it would eject nuclear weapons from the Faslane submarine base on the Clyde as soon as possible after Scotland became independent. A referendum on Scottish independence is due to be held in the autumn of 2014.

Experts and politicians have repeatedly suggested that the Vanguard-class submarines that carry nuclear-tipped Trident missiles could be relocated to Devonport. In evidence to a House of Lords committee in December, the former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West, said “they could go there”.

But a response under freedom of information law from the MoD now indicates that will not be possible. The “safety case” it has drawn up for regulators to demonstrate that Devonport can be operated without undue risk rules out nuclear-armed submarines.

“Neither the Devonport naval base nor the Devonport dockyard, which is owned and operated by Babcock, safety case permit the berthing of an armed Vanguard class submarine,” the MoD said.

It also disclosed that its internal safety watchdog, the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, “has not provided any advice on the feasibility of docking of an armed Vanguard class submarine in Devonport dockyard”.

The MoD was responding to questions from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND), which wants to get rid of Trident altogether. “This shows that it is wrong to suggest that Trident can just move to Devonport if it is thrown out of Scotland,” said the campaign’s co-ordinator, John Ainslie.

A new report by SCND applies the MoD’s criteria for accidents at Faslane to Devonport. It concludes that Devonport would never be an officially acceptable location for Trident submarines because of the much greater population that would be put at risk.

There are about 166,000 people living within five kilometres of the Devonport base, compared with about 5,200 within that distance of Faslane. In assessing the dangers of a major accident at Faslane’s shiplift in 2000, the MoD concluded that the “societal contamination” that could result meant that “the risks are close to the tolerability criterion level”.

If a similar accident happened at Devonport, the MoD’s tolerability criteria would be massively exceeded, the SCND report says. If there was a light wind blowing from the south-west, it estimates that 800 people would be killed by leaking plutonium.

If the weather was calm, the report says that as many as 11,000 people could die from radiation poisoning. There would also be additional casualties from the blast, which could break windows across a quarter of Plymouth.

The MoD’s worst-case accident scenario assumes that all the conventional explosives in the eight Trident missiles carried by a single submarine detonate. It then assumes that all the plutonium in the missiles’ 40 nuclear warheads is dispersed, amounting to perhaps 160kg.

“A missile accident at Devonport, in the centre of Plymouth, could result in thousands of deaths,” said Ainslie. “In addition, a large proportion of the city would be abandoned for hundreds of years.”

The MoD stressed that the UK government was making no plans for independence, as it was confident that Scotland would not vote to leave the UK. “We are therefore not making plans to move the nuclear deterrent from HM Naval Base Clyde, which supports 6,700 jobs, and where all of our submarines will be based from 2017,” said an MoD spokesman.

“The government is committed to maintaining a continuous submarine-based nuclear deterrent and has begun the work of replacing our existing submarines.”

Source – The Guardian

India’s Nuclear Submarine Programme – Video Clip

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India’s Nuclear Submarine Programme – Video Clip

Source – Youtube

US Submarine Jefferson City wins Battle “E” award

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Submarine Jefferson City wins Battle

USS Jefferson City, one of six Los Angeles-class attack submarines homeported at Point Loma, has received the coveted Battle Efficiency, or “Battle E” award, from the Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The Navy says the Jefferson City, which typically sails with 12 officers and 98 men, won the award because the 361-foot boat had the most proficient crew in its squadron, and “sustained superior technical performance and continual combat readiness throughout (2012),” the Navy said in a statement.

Commander Submarine Force, US Pacific Fleet also announced these other Battle “E” winners and their homeports.

Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 1 (Pearl Harbor) – USS Hawaii (SSN 776)

Source – North County Times

Indian Navy set to issue tender for new submarines

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Project 75-I

The  Indian Navy is set to “very soon” issue a RfP (request for proposal or tender) for a new line of six submarines with AIP (air independent propulsion) capability.

The requirement has been pending for quite a few years but the proposal for the new line, designated Project 75-I, has now being given firm clearance by the government, according to Indian Navy chief,  Admiral DK Joshi.

Asked how soon is “very soon,” the naval chief told  India Strategic defence magazine (www.indiastrategic.in) that the defence acquisition committee (DAC) had already cleared a note on acceptance of necessity (AON), the navy had finalized the RfP and it was in its last stage of formalities for clearance in the defence ministry.

As per procedures, depending on the money involved, AON has to be cleared by a competent authority. If the requirement involves more than Rs 1,000 crores ($200 million ), then it is by the DAC, headed by the defence minister. The approval was accorded just before the Navy Day on December 4, 2012.

AIP increases the mission life of a submarine by around three times, depending upon the task and parameters required. The capability enables a submarine to generate air onboard without the need to surface for breathing to recharge its batteries.

At present, none of the Indian submarines have this capability, and some of them can only be under water for only three to five days. The existing fleet of 14 diesel-electric submarines is rather weak despite the periodic upgrades, although some newer EW (electronic warfare) systems have been installed.

Submarines are about staying underwater as long as possible, and that is why nuclear power is used to keep them submerged for around three months, or to the limits of human endurance.

The new Project 75-I submarines should be huge in value, estimated at around $10 billion-plus, depending upon the offsets and transfer of technology (ToT).

At present, six new Scorpenes under Project 75 are being built for more than 5% billion (Rs 23,562 crore) by the state-run Mazagon Dock Ltd. (MDL) under licence from the French DCNS company.

MDL is also hoping to get the new Project 75-I line but it has substantial work in hand for years — 14 ships in addition to the six Scorpenes. The experience gained in building the Scorpenes though should be extremely useful and must not get wasted.

AIP is also being considered for the last two of the existing line of Scorpenes by installing plugs — about eight meters in length and the same diameter as that of the submarine. Admiral Joshi said that the (Defence Research and Development Organisation) DRDO was working on building these plugs, but that if this entailed delay, “we will not wait”.

The Scorpene project is already late by three years, with the first submarine scheduled to be out in June 2015 — instead of 2012 — and the last in September 2018.

DCNS has offered to build the plugs and some negotiations have taken place with it. Nonetheless, DRDO’s Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) at Ambernath in Maharashtra is working on the project to bring in some  indigenous capability and content.

About the Project 75-I,  defence ministry sources said that its Department of Defence Production was working on fine-tuning some features like Who-Will-Do-What among the Indian shipyards and the suppliers in terms of sub-systems and weapons. Details on offsets and ToT, which have a sizeable bearing on the costs, are also being given the last touches.

Notably, the defence offsets policy mandates a minimum investment of 30 per cent to be put back in a related defence industrial venture in India, but in the biggest defence contract that is now being negotiated for the French Rafale multi role combat aircraft (MRCA), this figure is 50 per cent.

As per indications, the RfP for the submarines should be out even in January 2013, or latest by March before the financial year 2012-13 ends.

The Indian Navy’s current fleet of conventional diesel-electric submarines is quite old.

There are four HDW Shishumar class submarines acquired from Germany and 10 Kilo Sindhughosh class from Russia, both from 1986 onwards. The service life of a submarine is estimated at around 20 years, but because of political indecision after the allegations over the purchase of Bofors guns from  Sweden, the modernization process of the Navy — along with that of the Army and Indian Air Force — suffered.

In 1998, the then naval chief, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, projected a requirement of a 24-submarine fleet in the navy’s long-term vision for 30 years. In 1999, the Cabinet committee on security (CCS) — the apex body headed by the prime minister — approved the plan for their indigenous construction in two lines.

The Scorpenes are being built in India to gain experience and indigenous support capability. India had gained some earlier with the induction of HDW boats but as there was no follow-on programme, that experience was lost and all those involved in the project have retired.

The only direct submarine acquisition of the Indian Navy after the HDW and Kilo submarines is that of the single nuclear power attack submarine (SSN) INS Chakra from  Russia in 2012. There are also some technical issues with it, and during his recent to New Delhi, Russian President  Vladimir Putin promised to have them sorted out ASAP.

An SSN is a nuclear propelled but not nuclear armed submarine. The conventionally-powered diesel electric submarines are knows as the SSK class.

Source – The Times of India