Author Archives: jasonlockley

The Malpas birthplace of Newport’s submariner hero, Commander John ‘Tubby’ Linton VC, is to get a blue plaque

Leave a reply

linton

HONOUR: The Malpas birthplace of Newport’s submariner hero, Commander John ‘Tubby’ Linton VC, is to get a blue plaque

A RENOWNED submarine commander from Newport who was awarded the Victoria Cross will be recognised tomorrow with the unveiling of a plaque on the house where he was born.

John Wallace Linton VC, known as ‘Tubby’, was born in Malpas and went on to command submarines during the Second World War.

He was responsible for sinking around 100,000 tonnes of enemy shipping but died along with his crew, almost certainly due to his submarine, HMS Turbulent, being hit by an Italian depth charge.

The blue plaque will be 18 inches in diameter and will read: “Commander John Wallace Linton VC, distinguished service across the Royal Navy, was born here 15 October 1905. Posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross 25 May 1943 for conspicuous gallantry whilst in command of HM Submarine Turbulent during operations in the Mediterranean Sea.”

It will be mounted on the porch of the house where he was born in the grounds of St Joseph’s Hospital.

This plaque will be the first of a series dedicated to submarine commanders.

Rick Rothwell, secretary of the Submariners’ Association, said: “He was very well thought of by all his crew.

“That goes a long way to a submarine achieving good results, the crew being 100 per cent behind the commander.

“The management committee thought it was a good idea, while there are still living contacts to the submarine VCs, to commemorate them.

“It’s a piece of history that may never be repeated. The submarine service is over 113 years of age and in that very short time it achieved 14 Victoria Crosses.”

The Victoria Cross is the highest military honour for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Doug Piddington, 81, secretary of the Newport and Cwmbran Royal Naval Association, said: “He (Tubby) was one of the greatest submarine commanders that the country has ever seen.”

A memorial service to Commander Linton is held every year and in 2004 a Wetherspoons pub on Cambrian Road was named after him.

Source – South Wales Argus

WWI submarine graveyard discovered by underwater archaeologists

Leave a reply

german u-boat (whatsthatpicture flickr)

A short way off England’s south and east coasts, under less than 50 feet of water, archaeologists have discovered the remains of 41 German and 3 UK submarines sunk during World War I. Der Spiegel reports that the watery graveyard is home to several U-boats that the German Imperial Navy still lists as missing. Now that the vessels have been discovered, the race is on to explore them before they disintegrate entirely.

Nearly half of Germany’s 380 U-boats were lost during the war

The German vessels were an integral part of Germany’s naval strategy at the time, inflicting heavy damages on the British fleet. But when discovered, their slow speed and undeveloped torpedo technology ultimately left them easy prey for warships, and nearly half of Germany’s 380 U-boats were lost during the war.

Since many of the subs were sunk during active duty, the bodies of the crew are expected to still be inside — what are called “disaster samples.” But further examination and preservation of the sites presents some tricky legal hurdles. Firstly, under UK law, the sunken subs are considered “inviolable gravesites.” And secondly, UNESCO doesn’t consider the wrecks to be archaeological artifacts worth protecting since they’re still less than 100 years old.

Source – The Verge

German Submarines for Poland?

Leave a reply

ORP Bielik

At the end of May 2013, the German and Polish defense ministers signed a Letter of Intent on naval cooperation. What does that mean for Polish submarine plans?

Poland’s current submarine fleet includes 1 Russian Kilo Class boat, ORP Orzel , which was commissioned in 1986. Another 4 modernized U207 Kobben Class  pocket submarines of German design were given to Poland by Norway, who added 1 Type 207 used for spares/ training. The tiny 435t Type 207s were commissioned in Norway from 1964 – 1967, which doesn’t leave them much of a safe lifespan.

Poland’s 2013 – 2022 defense modernization plan expects to finalize specifications for new submarines by the end of 2013. Two would be bought in 2022, and a 3rd in 2030. Poland’s shipyards had been expecting to participate, and to receive technology transfer benefits.

A copy of the LoI received by Defense Industry Daily sets out 28 named cooperation domains. They include joint exercises and services, exchange of knowledge and personnel, operational activities together, and the acquisition and maintenance of new equipment.

Procurement projects include include common procurement and operation of Joint Support Ships, and of mission modules for Germany’s 6 forthcoming MKS180/ K131 special mission ships. New oilers and tankers are listed as a common development and operation case: Poland operates only ORP Baltyk, and Germany’s 2 remaining Walchensee Class coastal tankers were commissioned in 1966.

U-212A Cutaway

Submarines are mentioned twice, via generic “cooperation in the field of submarines” (#1), and “Establishment of a DEU-POL submarine operating authority” (#8). The first is normal, but the second is an important step, especially in light of recent events in both Poland and Germany.

Germany’s budget has seen steady pressure, leading to planned reductions and sell-offs within a number of major orders. Poland’s defense budget, which had defied European trends, is headed for imminent cuts as 2013 government revenues come in below expectations. The MON has stated that it will protect land systems modernization as a top priority, and recent orders for more wheeled Rosomak IFVs seem to reinforce that trend. On the modern battlefield, airpower is the dominant asset, and Poland’s planning acknowledges that they need to improve both their aerial fleet and their air & missile defense capabilities. The Polish Navy has generally been the lowest priority for Polish military modernization, and current imperatives show no signs of changing that status.

In that environment, new submarines look to face funding challenges, unless the budgetary environment improves.

ORP Orzel

Those circumstances are adding plausibility to an unconfirmed report we’ve received that that the German BWB has proposed leasing 2 of the Deutsche Marine’s U212A submarines to Poland, a move that would keep the German fleet at 4 despite planned deliveries. A common operating authority is certainly a good way to tie that kind of arrangement together, and each government has reasons to like the idea. Not only would Germany save on operating expenses by remaining at 4 boats, they would be able to make money doing it, instead of paying for basic maintenance of mothballed boats. Meanwhile, Poland would avoid the huge up-front cost of buying new boats, and might be able to save money by decommissioning the old, maintenance-intensive U207/Kobben Class boats soon after any U212A lease.

Our source says that a deal could be done by the end of 2013.

If true, the EU can be expected to stick its nose in – as they did in 2010 when the Czech Republic bought/ bartered for 4 C-295M light transports from EADS, without opening the deal to EU-wide competition.

Poland’s shipyards like Stocznia Remontowa Nauta and Stocznia Marynarki Wojennej, whose owners were hoping to use the submarine deal to modernize their aging infrastructure, would also be out in the cold. The Polish shipbuilding industry is a shadow of what it was in the 1980s, when the Gdansk-centered Solidarity movement began bringing down the Soviet Empire. Then again, neither are they easily dismissed.

Source – Defence Industry Daily

£2m nuclear submarine crane nears completion at Kingswinford firm

Leave a reply

A £2 million defence project to build a colossal crane for the decommissioning of nuclear submarines is nearing completion at a Black Country firm.

30675337
Managing director Robert Holland, right, and sales manager Richard Holland with the colossal crane in Kingswinford

Around 50 workers at Kingswinford’s TM Engineers have been working to create the 40ft high and 60-tonne structure, for the past two years.

Bosses from the company, in Oak Lane, today said the finishing touches were now being added to the crane.

It will be used to remove rods from the nuclear reactors of Trafalgar-class submarines at the end of their service life.

Work is due to be completed on the project within the next few weeks.

It will then be broken down into five separate pieces and transported from the firm’s headquarters during the next month.

The crane will eventually form part of a larger structure installed at the Devonport Royal Dockyard – where the submarines will be stripped down.

It takes around two years to fully strip a submarine and the crane has been designed to withstand natural disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes and earthquakes.

The structure is designed to be in operation for 30 years with designers at the Black Country firm having to anticipate what will be required of it during that period.

Around 8,000 hours of welding has gone into creating the structure.

Sales manager at the company Richard Holland said all of the staff at the firm deserved credit for the successful project.

“You can design something but it is the workers here who have made it a reality. They have worked tremendously hard over the past two years,” he said. “It has been a very difficult project to work on as technology and the demands on the structure change so quickly.

“This has been a highly prestigious contract for us. It has involved all of our staff at various points during the project.”

It is not the first major project to have been completed by the firm. It won a prestigious £750,000 deal to build parts for the famous Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. The firm developed mechanised parts for the project which helped capture atoms as they are sent careering around the 16-mile underground structure.

The parts, called E-Cal End Plates, were 13ft wide, made from aluminium and sent in two sets to Geneva. They took six months to develop due to the complicated nature of the manufacturing process.

A carbon fibre ‘shroud’ and lead blocks were attached to holes on the plates to catch the atoms.

The firm which employs 55 staff was founded more than 60 years ago. It is one of only 10 firms worldwide to be awarded special gold plaques from Geneva for its work on the Hadron Collider. The firm became involved through Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in Oxfordshire.

Source – Express & Star

UK – Work starts on sixth Astute submarine at Barrow

Leave a reply

Agamemnon keel

The keel is the first part of a submarine to be built

A ceremony has been held at a Cumbrian shipyard to mark the start of work on the sixth of a fleet of seven new submarines for the Royal Navy.

The Astute-class vessel – a nuclear-powered attack submarine – is being built at BAE Systems in Barrow.

It has been officially named Agamemnon after the Greek mythological King, though it has not yet been constructed.

A keel laying ceremony took place at Devonshire Dock Hall.

Defence Equipment Minister Philip Dunne attended the ceremony and revealed the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had signed a new contract with BAE Systems.

The Barrow yard has been working on the Astute programme since 2001.

The other submarines are HMS Astute, Ambush, Artful, Audacious and Anson. The seventh will be named HMS Ajax.

Hard to detect

The keel for the first vessel – HMS Astute – was laid in January 2001 and the craft was launched in June 2007.

Mr Dunne said: “The keel-laying of Agamemnon and the handover of HMS Astute and HMS Ambush to the Royal Navy are huge milestones, reflecting significant progress in the programme.

“By ensuring the UK’s submarine programme remains affordable, this new contract will help deliver the Astute Class and secure around 5,000 jobs at BAE Systems and thousands more in over 400 suppliers across the UK submarine supply chain.”

The fleet of submarines will be based at Faslane in Scotland.

The Astute Class of vessels have greater firepower, state-of-the-art communications equipment and advanced stealth technology, making them quiet and harder to detect, according to the MoD.

Source – BBC News

UK – Mourners pack out funeral for ex-submariner – Video clip

Leave a reply

THE Armed Forces are sometimes dubbed ‘the biggest family in the world’ and today proved exactly that.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/mourners-pack-out-funeral-for-ex-submariner-1-5289388

Scores of mourners turned out at Fareham Cemetery, Wickham Road, to see off Rodney ‘Vic’ Silvester, a veteran who served on nuclear submarines for many years.

Vic, 67, died last week at QA Hospital after losing his fight with cancer.

Prior to his death, he had spent a short time at Woodland Court residential care home in Portchester.

Not much had been known about Vic before his death as he had become withdrawn after his friends and family had all died.

His one remaining cousin came forward to organise the funeral, but when Supporting Veterans in Care Facebook group heard that Vic faced a lonely funeral, it put out a plea for mourners.

The British Legion and the Submariners’ Association heard about the funeral and followed suit.

Today, representatives from the groups and people who had read the plea in The News turned out in Fareham.

A service was held where mourners heard about Vic’s career at HMS Dolphin, on HMS Odin and on HMS Dreadnought, before he was laid to rest.

A bugler played the Last Post as his coffin was committed to the ground.

John Harper, from Bognor Regis, is Vic’s second cousin. He said: ‘I think what these guys do is fabulous, absolutely superb. I didn’t expect such a large turn out, it’s brilliant. I would like to say thank you very much for everybody for turning out. Rod would have been chuffed to bits, so would his dad. He would have loved every bit of it.’

Roy Dixon, from Gosport, is part of the Submariners’ Association. He said: ‘We heard that Vic had passed and the information was very scant but one significant factor was that we had heard only one member of family had been in contact. So we decided that we would not let the side down, and do what we would always do and attend the funeral of a fellow submariner. I’m so pleased that the turn out is as good as this, from all walks of navy life, surface ships, bombers, diesel boats, there’s even a green beret here which is really something.’

Lisa Smith and Tamie Pye, staff from Vic’s care home, were at the funeral.

Tamie said: ‘He came out of his shell once he came to us. He was like a new man.’

Lisa said: ‘He kept himself to himself but he did like to have a good chat, especially about his navy days.’

Father Paul Miles-Knight led the service . He said: ‘It is amazing to see. At the start there was only going to be me and three others here but thanks to the wonders of the internet, the veterans got together. He would have been proud.’

Source – The News

 

Canada – Navy submarine damage severe, internal report says

Leave a reply

HMCS Corner Brook hit seafloor off British Columbia in 2011

Slamming into the seafloor at 11 km/h damaged one of Canada’s submarines more severely than the navy originally admitted to the public, new documents obtained by CBC show.

The Royal Canadian Navy’s Damage Assessment and Options Analysis report for HMCS Corner Brook tells a story of a submarine suffering “extensive damage” from “tearing and dents” that left a gaping, two-metre hole in the submarine’s bow.

Seawater was “roiling” in the parts of the submarine and two of its torpedo tube doors had been torn off when it rammed the ocean floor off British Columbia two years ago.

The submarine had 60 people aboard, including some of the most experienced and senior submariners in the navy, when it rammed the rocky seafloor while cruising 45 metres below the surface.

Two sailors were slightly injured during the June 4, 2011 collision.The navy’s official board of inquiry blamed Lt.-Cmdr. Paul Sutherland, the sub’s captain, for the collision.

The inquiry was closed to the public and the navy only released a one-page summary of the hearing.

The navy has publicly called the accident a “fender bender” which resulted in no structural damage. But the navy’s internal report tells a much different story.

The damage report obtained by CBC under Access to Information was completed three days after the grounding and contains photographs detailing the damage to the Corner Brook.

While Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, now commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, assured Canadians the damage was not as bad as it looked, the report says “structural state of sub unk.” Unk is navy shorthand for unknown.

“Location of strike likely to have caused shock stress transmission within forward structure,” states the navy’s early damage report.

Norman had denied the damaged extended beyond what could be seen in several photographs obtained by CBC in February 2012.

The photos showed the submarine after it was hauled from the water with a hole in it the size of a ping-pong table.

Safety questioned

“The navy has not been upfront with Canadians about the degree of damage and just how close we came to a truly serious accident. I think the Canadian navy has to come clean across the board with respect to Canada’s Victoria class submarines,” said Michael Byers, a University of British Columbia defence expert who has been critical of the submarine program in the past.

The report said that there are “strong indications” of damage to the main ballast tank that may extend to the pressure hull of the submarine. The pressure hull is a thick, rolled-steel area of the submarine where sailors live and work.

“This accident came very close to claiming the lives of the entire crew,” said Byers, who co-authored a recent report on Canada’s fleet of four second-hand British-built submarines.

The damage to the HMCS Corner Brook was in the area in which sailors are quartered.

The damage to the HMCS Corner Brook was in the area in which sailors are quartered. 

Byers said if the pressure hull is twisted or damaged, it may be impossible for the navy to fix.

“Please bear in mind that the documents you have from the ATI request were created very soon after HMCS Corner Brook ran aground in 2011,” wrote Department of National Defence spokeswoman Tracy Poirier in an email to CBC.

“While I can say that more work has been done since then to look into what damage the submarine incurred, I have not been able to find out any details as to what was learned during these subsequent surveys.”

The navy has said it intends to repair the 2,400-tonne submarine during its scheduled refit period, which is to begin this year and run until 2016. The navy will replace the British torpedo system and other sensors and communications equipment that came with the four Victoria-class submarines Canada bought in 1998.

A similar refit process was just completed on another submarine from the class — HMCS Windsor — and it took five years instead of the planned two.

The cost of the work on the Windsor totalled $209 million and still only one of the sub’s two generators is operational, limiting the distance the sub can go away from land.

The navy has not said how much more it will cost to attempt to repair the collision damage to the 70-metre-long Corner Brook.

“If it turns out not to have worked after an attempt at repairing the vessel then Canadian taxpayers will have poured close a billion dollars into a bottomless pit trying to recover this submarine,” said Byers.

Source – CBC News

Trident: Does Britain need a submarine-based nuclear missile system that will cost £100 billion?

1 Reply
Ministers argue that having nuclear submarines permanently patrolling our waters has “served us well”

So, the Lib Dems’ long-awaited review of alternatives to Trident is Here.

Having pledged to “say no to the like-for-like replacement” in their election manifesto in 2010, then being forced to cede ground in order to enter into power, the review was always going to represent something of a fudge. Essentially it outlines a slimmed down version of the current system, which would deliver a bit less firepower and very little in the way of savings to the taxpayer.  It’s done little to paper over the cracks in the Coalition with the Defence Secretary condemning the plans as “reckless”, and the Prime Minister flatly rejecting them.

Most importantly the review fails to address the blindingly obvious question of whether Britain, decades after the Cold War and in the grip of austerity, actually needs a submarine-based nuclear missile system that will cost an estimated £100 billion over the next 30 years. I’ll be raising this point in a debate in Parliament today.

In any case, what the Lib Dems think seems to be of little relevance.

The Government, regardless of the views of its coalition partners, Parliament, or the public has been ploughing money into a replacement.

In response to a parliamentary question I tabled in 2010, the MoD revealed it was already spending billions on enriched uranium components and high explosives.

Ministers argue that having nuclear submarines permanently patrolling our waters has “served us well”.  But has our security really been greater than other nations that have chosen not to spend billions on a permanent flotilla of nuclear submarines?  Do we sleep safer in our beds than the Germans or the Japanese?

The fact is that the Liberal Democrats, like the Conservatives and like Labour, refuse to accept the major strategic and economic benefits that non-renewal would offer.  These include improved national security (with flexibility to spend elsewhere on the armed forces) and improved global security.  Britain’s moral authority in global multilateral disarmament initiatives depends on its own behaviour.  How can we dictate to Iran or other nations seeking to join the nuclear club while we remain wedded to Trident?

This is a time when growing numbers of our citizens are relying on food banks. When public sector workers are having their pay frozen.  When vital services that the most vulnerable in our society depend on are being cut daily. And when the armed forces themselves are under strain.

It’s not lefty-pacifist propaganda to ask whether we should be refusing to move on from a past era of warfare. Four former senior military commanders have voiced concerns  that “replacing Trident will be one of the most expensive weapons programmes this country has seen” and highlighted concerns about its impact on  defence equipment budget.

You might reasonably ask, like the former Prime Minister John Major: “In what circumstances, and upon whom, is Trident likely to be used?” The Government’s own National Security Strategy has downgraded the threat of state on state nuclear warfare, while highlighting the emergence of new 21st Century threats – including climate change, pandemics, organised crime and cyber warfare – as well as terrorism, the threat of which is arguably heightened by the kind of posturing that Trident represents.

But instead of facing up to the real threats of the modern world, the Government sadly seems determined to lock the UK into the costly technologies of the past.

Source – The Independent

US -Eugene Wilkinson (1918-2013): Navy Commanding Officer of First Nuclear Submarine

Leave a reply

 

The US Navy gives recognition and all salutes to Vice Admiral Eugene P. Wilkinson, who passed away last July 11 at the age of 94, as reported in NavyTimes.

Wilkinson made history as the first commanding officer to have full command over Nautilus, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine. As the Nautilus made its maiden voyage, Wilkinson issued a message: “Underway on nuclear power”His career in the Navy spanned 34 years, starting from his commissioning in 1940.

His credentials include a Silver Star for his services during World War II, as well as working as the Naval Operations for Submarine Warfare’s deputy chief prior to his retirement in 1974. Wilkinson also powered the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations as its first president and CEO. The organization emphasizes the importance of safety in nuclear power plants. Aside from his command of the historic nuclear sub, he also commandeered the first nuclear-powered cruiser called Long Beach.

Navy Staff director Vice Adm. Richard Hunt expressed his respect for the departed veteran, in behalf of the entire Navy fleet. “He was a pioneering leader, an outstanding shipmate, and he will be sorely missed by his community and the Navy family,” Hunt said. –

Source – US Navy Seasl Blog

Trident submarine base: No 10 disowns MoD’s Faslane sovereignty proposal

Leave a reply

Whitehall row and SNP anger ignites over report of plans to make naval base UK territory if Scots vote for independence

Faslane naval base in Scotland which hosts the UK's nuclear submarines

Faslane naval base in Scotland which hosts the UK’s nuclear submarines.

A furious behind-the-scenes row has prompted Downing Street to disown a proposal to designate as sovereign UK territory the Scottish naval base that hosts Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent, in the event of Scottish independence.

No 10 rushed out a statement saying that it was neither “credible or sensible” to give the Faslane base the same status as the British sovereign military bases in Cyprus, following an argument involving senior members of the cabinet and the former chancellor Alistair Darling.

Amid an angry reaction from the Scottish National party (SNP), which drew parallels with Saddam Hussein’s annexation of Kuwait, a No 10 spokesman said: “This government has not commissioned contingency plans over Faslane. No such ideas have come to the secretary of state or the prime minister. They would not support them if they did. It is not a credible or sensible idea.”

Downing Street swung into action after Darling, who heads the pro-UK Better Together campaign, telephoned No 10 on Thursday morning to warn about the impact of a report in the Guardian about the Faslane base on Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute.

The Guardian reported that Ministry of Defence officials were starting to examine plans to designate the Faslane base as a Sovereign Base Area along the lines of its military bases in Cyprus.

The report dominated the morning lobby briefing in No 10, usually chaired by David Cameron, after the MoD confirmed the report in an email to the BBC late on Wednesday night.

A decision was taken to try to kill the story after the unit in No 10, run by Andy Dunlop who co-ordinates the government’s handling of the independence referendum, issued a stern warning that the sovereign base idea was a gift to the SNP.

One source close to a senior cabinet minister said of the MoD’s interest in the sovereign base idea: “What a ridiculous thing to say. Talk about handing a gift on a plate to the SNP.”

The SNP accused Westminster on Wednesday night of seeking to bullyScotland. Speaking during the weekly session of business questions,Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar said: “May we have a debate on the dangers and evils of imperialism and annexation of another country’s territory, whether it be Saddam Hussein in Kuwait or, at the other end of the spectrum, the Westminster government who, as the front page of the Guardian reports, are bullying Scotland as part of ‘project fear? Free peoples across the world will condemn that and stand with Scotland in the name of freedom.”

Darling was understood to be particularly concerned because he feared that the MoD’s proposals for Faslane would undermine the central theme of a major lecture he gave at the University of Glasgow on Thursday on the referendum. The former chancellor he said he wanted Scots to make a positive choice to remain in the UK and “not merely to reject the risks and uncertainties of independence”.

It is understood that a senior official from Darling’s Better Together campaign telephoned the No 10 Scottish referendum unit late on Wednesday night to express deep alarm about the Faslane plan. The group was assured that the No 10 unit was equally appalled that the private thinking of the MoD on such a sensitive matter had entered the public domain.

One source in the Better Together campaign said: “We phoned Downing Street to bluntly ask what was going on. They were already on to it.”

Darling, who called No 10 himself, showed his irritation after his speech in Glasgow. Picking up on the submarine theme, he said: “It was a row that quickly surfaced and equally quickly it was sunk. It was a frankly ridiculous proposal to suggest we could possibly designate part of Scotland as different from the rest. I am glad the UK government has hit it hard on the head – that’s exactly what it deserved.

“Any normal person looking at it for more than 10 seconds would come to the view that this was something that should just go straight into the bucket.”

The Guardian reported on Wednesday night that MoD officials were starting to examine plans to ensure that the Vanguard submarines could remain at the deep-water Faslane base and nuclear warheads could continue to be stored at the nearby Coulport base on Loch Long. The Guardian reported that, ahead of next year’s referendum, the MoD was officially working on only one option for the Faslane base – a defeat for the SNP. An MoD spokesperson told the Guardian: “No contingency plans are being made to move Trident out of Scotland. The scale and cost of any potential relocation away from Faslane would be enormous.”

But a defence source said the idea of designating Faslane as sovereign UK territory in the event of an SNP victory was being taken seriously. The source said: “It would cost a huge amount of money, running into tens of billions of pounds, to decommission Faslane. Those costs would be factored into any negotiations on an independence settlement. The sovereign base area is an option. It is an interesting idea because the costs of moving out of Faslane are eye wateringly high.” A version of this was emailed to the BBC, which ran a story on its website with the headline: “Faslane Trident base could be in UK after Scottish independence”. The MoD emailed the BBC to say: “The sovereign base area is an option. It is an interesting idea.”

Source – The Guardian