Errr, you're possibly assuming that "Military competence" and "Labour politicians" are synonymous?
They're clearly trying to reduce the deterrent to keep the Old Guard (CND-ers) in Labour happy, throwing them a "Look, it's a bit like disarmament" bone, to avoid the political embarassment of only getting the vote through with Tory support, at the time when Labour will be electing a new leader.
In other words, it's a political calculation, obviously, nothing to do with strategy.
Or possibly I'm just being too cynical...? Nope, that's it.
As I recall, it was something like, at any given time:
- 1 sub in maintenance / refit
- 3 subs in rotation - one at sea, one in "warmup" and one in "cooldown".
They take a lot of time and care to maintain a nuclear sub properly. Which, I think we can all agree. is a Good Thing.
Worth a try, certainly.
Seriously, that's getting into the "is deterrence worthwhile / useful" area, which is a different discussion to "What's needed to provide effective deterrence". Which is 4 subs.
Anyone know what the decommissioning process is? Is it poss that the old subs or nukes (minus warheads etc) could end up on ebay?
Just checked out the "4 subs" thing, and from Wikipedia, I see:
So I was more-or-less right.The principle of operation is based on maintaining deterrent effect by always having at least one submarine at sea, and was designed for the Cold War period. One submarine is normally undergoing maintenance and the remaining two are in port or on training exercises
Yep - looking it up, they've got 8,500 infantry troops, which is roughly equivalent to the UK at a proportion of their population. No air force though, which seems strange.
True...
Looking at the Irish foreign policy, I'd imagine Scots would be quite similar - basically neutral in most disputes (but within the EU and NATO), which is pretty much the default position for most small states.
Or, they must have nothing of any value that anybody wants - apart from the UK of course.
Anyway, about these nukes...
Ah, so if we give Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams one nuke each - problem solved.
How does that work exactly, PF?
Still interested on how nukes become decommisioned. Shurely once a Nuke is built, no matter how you pull it apart, there is still plutonium or the like to be dispossed of?
Hmmm, well actually, I don't think the Republic of Ireland per se has ever been involved in a proper war, have they? Some UN peacekeeping, but that's about it.
Well, there's always the local Sushi bar, that seems to be the method of choice for the Russians
Actually, I've no idea - I assume they're simply stored in a secure facility, at least we hope it's secure...
I agree with that, but its enough non-peace like activity to mention. And if we were looking at "what Ireland are doing right to stop them being in a war" wouldn't "they've been a bit busy with other problems" be kind high on the thought list?
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