CALLS for a submarine to be exhibited in Greenock have resurfaced – following news that a new ‘silent service’ museum is to be opened on the other side of the Clyde
SAVE SUB: HMS Onyx could be scrapped if no-one comes up with the money to buy the submarine
Source – Greenock Telegraph
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
“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.
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
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
It’s hard to look at Sir Tony Robinson without conjuring an image of perennial idiot and Blackadder whipping boy Baldrick, writes Tim Spiers.
Sir Tony Robinson with the nuclear powered boat HMS Ambush (Blog editor takes no credit for this obvious inaccuracy!!)
And rather oddly that career has taken a peculiar turn in recent years, with Robinson earning a niche for himself tucked away on Channel 4 on Sunday nights.
Time Team is, in the nicest possible sense, Geek TV, at least in its subject matter.
But as The Lost Submarine of WWI proves, that subject matter can be fascinating, educational and entertaining.
In it we see Robinson explore the story behind the very first submarines of warfare, focusing on the run-up to WWI and an arms race to build the most technologically advanced subs to try to win the war.
Submarines are compared favourably to tanks and machine guns in the way that they changed the face of warfare forever – they’re labelled as the weapon that changed the world, and with good reason.
First off Robinson travels to a secret location off the island of Skye to see firsthand the very latest in submarine technology.
Nuclear-powered sub HMS Ambush weighs 7,400 tonnes, can purify its own air and water, travel around the globe without ever popping above the surface and will never be refuelled in its 25 years of service.
It’s a far cry from the primitive early boats of the early 1900s, but comparisons between then and now are plentiful.
To prove this we’re taken back more than 100 years to discover a submarine which changed warfare forever.
And the Holland 5 was built here in Britain.
All design elements that modern designers take for granted came to life in this sub, which actually began life as an anti-British terrorist weapon.
Irish Republican John Holland designed the early Holland prototypes and was linked with what was effectively the US arm of the IRA.
The plan was to build a submarine capable of sinking a battleship, but Holland’s designs never came to fruition and his business partner came to the UK and duly licensed the Holland 5 for the Royal Navy.
The first incarnation of the series – Holland 1 – was extremely basic but by the time Holland 5 came around, complete with a periscope, a storage tank for water to help keep its balance and a new system for diving gently into the water, the British had designed a submarine fit to take on the Germans.
Perhaps surprisingly submarines were criticised by some – they were labelled as underhand and ‘un-English’, with a strong sense of questioning the morality at being so sneaky, even if it meant the enemy would be defeated.
History buffs will eat this stuff up with a spoon but there’s interest for casual observers too.
And Time Team excels in keeping it simple for the viewer, so that even the most unlikely subject matters become accessible.
As for the Holland 5, it sank in the English Channel and rapid technological advances meant that it soon became outdated and new fleets of submarines – on both sides of the war – were hastily constructed from 1914 onwards. But the groundwork had been done and the British submarines played a substantial role in winning the war, making the Holland 5 a hugely successful invention.
Or as Robinson might put it, a rather good cunning plan.
Source – Shropshire Star
The British nuclear submarine HMS Talent is pictured above as it sailed into the bay of Gibraltar yesterday escorted by a patrol boat from the Royal Navy’s Gibraltar Squadron.
This is the submarine’s second visit to the Rock so far this year.
It called here last May, the first British submarine to stop in Gibraltar in five years.
The Trafalgar-class ‘hunter killer’ submarine arrived yesterday afternoon and it is not known how long it will stay in port.
As is routine in such cases, the Ministry of Defence disclosed no information about the submarine’s visit.
A one-line statement contained the standard line that HMS Talent was visiting Gibraltar “…as part of scheduled operational tasking.”
The visit comes against continued tension in the Bay of Gibraltar over recent incursions by Guardia Civil and Spanish navy vessels.
HMS Talent is described by the Royal navy as a technically advanced, nuclear powered ‘hunter-killer’ submarine, the penultimate in a series of seven Trafalgar Class submarines.
Launched by Princess Anne in Barrow in Furness in 1988, the submarine has conducted operations all around the world.
The principal role of the ‘hunter-killer’ is to attack ships and other submarines.
In this capacity, vessels of this type could support and protect a convoy or taskforce.
HMS Talent can also be used in a surveillance role as it is fitted with cameras and thermal imaging periscopes.
HMS Talent is also fitted with Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, which gives it a land attack role.
Source – Gibraltar Chronicle
A rare site of two Canadian subs sailing together into homeport for the Christmas holidays. Seen leading the pack is the HMCS Cornerbrook with the HMCS Windsor following. The HMCS Cornerbrook and the HMCS Windsor arrived in the early dawn coming along side in Halifax today in Nova Scotia on the 21st of December 2006
The Harper government is set to announce a five-year, $531-million contract extension to repair and upgrade Canada’s fleet of four diesel-electric submarines
OTTAWA — B.C.’s shipbuilding and repair industry will get a shot of good news Thursday when the Harper government announces a five-year, $531-million contract extension to repair and upgrade Canada’s fleet of four diesel-electric submarines, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
The contract, following a similar agreement struck in 2008, will protect roughly 200 jobs at the department of national defence’s Fleet Maintenance Facility in Esquimalt, according to a federal official.
Another 200 jobs will be protected at locations elsewhere in Canada, he said.
“This significant federal investment will support more than 400 high-quality jobs, improve the long-term sustainability of B.C.’s shipbuilding industry and provide the best tools for Canada’s sailors,” he said in a prepared statement.
The contract was won in a competitive bid by Babcock Canada Inc., a subsidiary of the British multinational firm Babcock International Group PLC.
Babcock International won the original contract in 2008 after it teamed up with Weir Canada Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., to create a consortium called the Canadian Submarine Management Group.
However, Babcock announced in 2011 that CSMG would be renamed Babcock Canada Inc. after Weir’s share of the joint venture was transferred to Babcock.
The original contract award caused a political flap because Babcock beat out Irving Shipbuilding, which wanted to keep the repair work in Halifax.
One of the critics was Green party leader Elizabeth May, who at the time was planning her run against Defence Minister Peter MacKay in his Nova Scotia riding.
May, who accused the government of an “anti-Atlantic bias,” is now the MP for the Vancouver Island riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.
The original five-year contract in 2008 was worth $370 million over five years, but if CSMG met performance targets the contract was to be extended over 15 years, for a total value of up to $1.5 billion.
Thursday’s announcement gives a clear indication that Babcock has met those targets.
The fleet of four Victoria-class diesel-electric submarines has had a rocky history after the Liberal government made what appeared to be the bargain-basement purchase of the mothballed subs from the Royal Navy for $750 million in 1998.
It took far longer and was costlier than expected to make the vessels seaworthy, and in 2004 the HMCS suffered a fire that left one officer dead. In 2011, HMCS Corner Brook ran aground near Vancouver Island during manoeuvres.
There are now two subs, HMCS Victoria and HMCS Windsor, that are fully operational.
HMCS Chicoutimi is currently being serviced at Esquimalt but is expected to be ready for sea trials later this year.
The HMCS Corner Brook is also in Esquimalt for both repairs and a refit.
The fleet is “at the highest state of readiness that they’ve ever been,” the source said.
Source – The Vancouver Sun
Submarine Diary 