Everything about Hm Naval Base Clyde totally explained
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"Faslane" redirects here, for other meanings, see Faslane (disambiguation).
Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde, is one of three operating bases for the
Royal Navy (the others being
HMNB Devonport and
HMNB Portsmouth).
HMNB Clyde is on the eastern shore of
Gare Loch in
Argyll and Bute,
Scotland. It is to the north of the
Firth of Clyde and 25 miles west of the city of
Glasgow. The headquarters of the
Royal Navy in Scotland, it's best known as the home of the
United Kingdom's Trident submarine force. The
submarine base encompasses a number of separate sites, the primary two being:
Faslane is also a
Defence Equipment and Support site, operated in dual site organisation with Great Harbour,
Greenock, by
Serco Denholm.
In 2006, the
Ministry of Defence announced that a review would be undertaken to examine the future of the three naval bases. The Naval Base Review sought to examine the long-term future needs of the
Royal Navy: the most likely outcomes were either to retain the three current naval bases, but with reduced capacity in each, or to close one of the two bases on the south coast of
England. The review, released in 2007, stipulated no base closures.
HMNB Clyde is home to the
United Kingdom's
strategic nuclear deterrent.
Faslane Naval Base
Faslane Naval Base, situated on the
Gare Loch, and the RN Armaments Depot Coulport on Loch Long, are the primary components of HM Naval Base Clyde. The Naval shore establishment at Faslane is
HMS Neptune, Naval personnel appointed to the base who don't belong to a sea-going vessel make up Ship's Company. 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
Vanguard class nuclear powered and nuclear armed submarines, as well as conventionally-armed
nuclear powered submarines, supported by the
Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines. In charge of HMNB Clyde is the Naval Base Commander (Clyde), which has just been handed over from
Commodore Carolyn J Stait OBE ADC Royal Navy to a new incumbent, Commodore C J Hockley. The base is home to a number of lodger units including
Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland (FOSNNI) (who is also Flag Officer Reserves (FORes)), the Northern Diving Group and the Scottish Headquarters of the
Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency. It is base to 3,000 service personnel, 800 of their families and 4,000 civilian workers, forming a major part of the economy of
Argyll and Bute and
West Dunbartonshire.
Faslane was first constructed and used as a base in
World War II. During the
1960s, the
United Kingdom began negotiating the
Polaris Sales Agreement with the
United States regarding the purchase of a
Polaris missile system to fire UK-built Nuclear weapons from five specially constructed submarines. In the end, only four were constructed;
Resolution,
Repulse,
Renown and
Revenge. These four submarines were permanently based at Faslane. Faslane itself was chosen as the base at the height of the
Cold War, due to its geographic position, which formed a
Bastion, on the relatively secluded but deep and easily navigable
Gare Loch and
Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland, which provided for rapid and stealthy access through the
North Channel to the submarine patrolling areas in the
North Atlantic, through the
GIUK gap to the
Norwegian Sea. 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:
HMS Vanguard
HMS Victorious
HMS Vigilant
HMS Vengeance
Swiftsure class SSNs
Faslane is also home to the Swiftsure class of fleet submarines (S). The Swiftsure class is the older of the two fleet submarines of the Royal Navy and is due to be replaced by the Astute class submarines.
HMS Sovereign recently decommissioned
HMS Superb
HMS Sceptre
HMS Spartan recently decommissioned
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.
Anti-nuclear demonstrations
Given the presence of these nuclear capable missiles, Faslane has attracted demonstrations by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other Scottish pressure groups, including Trident Ploughshares. A permanent peace camp is outside the base gates, and there are frequent demonstrations at the base gates. The presence of Faslane is also an issue in Scottish politics. The Scottish National Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, Saor Alba and the Scottish Green Party all oppose the deployment of nuclear weapons, although the Scottish National Party have made assurances that they'd retain the base for the servicing of conventionally-armed and -powered naval units. It isn't unusual for members of these parties, and indeed some from the Labour Party to be present. Also, some independents, such as George Galloway attend rallies outside Faslane. Such events aim to keep the base closed for as long as possible by preventing its staff from arriving for work, and usually involve large numbers of protesters being arrested for non-violent civil disobedience.
Faslane Peace Camp
Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent camp outside the base. It has been occupied continuously since 1982.
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 (although never successfully). The event attracts thousands of peace activists and has on occasion resulted in more than 350 arrests
Faslane 365
The Faslane 365 campaign was a one-year protest at the base for a 365 day period. It was an audacious civil resistance initiative to apply critical public pressure for the disarmament of Britain's nuclear weapons.
The campaign was launched in September 2006 with the first protest action commencing on 1 October 2006 carried out by a campaigning group of women associated with protests at Greenham Common It formally ended with a Big Blockade on 1 October 2007. However, groups are continuing to take direct action at both Faslane and Coulport.
131 blockading groups took part in Faslane 365 and 1150 arrests were made.
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 isn't 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 and references
HMNB Clyde web page
King's Bay Trident Refit Facility
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hm Naval Base Clyde'.
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