Life On A Trident Submarine

HMS Vigilant one of the UK's four Vanguard nuclear submarines at the moment she is in Port at Faz Lane in Scotland and heavily guarded the crew are getting ready to go back to Sea when they do they will disappear for 3 months their location will only be known by a handful of people the nuclear deterrent is one of the most secretive parts of British life where will you go uh we can operate anywhere can you tell me where you're going to go though where you typically go where I typically go I leave Fane what might you do when you're under the sea uh we do operations and support of the deterant HMS Vigilant carries the Trident ballistic missile the nuclear weapon the ultimate insurance policy this is the missile compartment right in the center of the submarine the missiles are stored in 16 tubes either side here vertically so they can be fir fired out of the top of a submarine and each missile can carry a maximum of 12 nuclear warheads on it on board they regularly train for the worst case scenario everybody involved in the firing chain takes part including the Prime Minister the order would come from him and him only if it did leftenant Commander Woods is the man who would ultimately fire the weapon the UK strategic deterrent you know is in operation every day you know actually pulling the trigger means the deterrent has failed is a last result is it a burden or an honor to be the man has that role I I would consider it an honor uh the trust that is uh placed and it isn't just me it's every single person on board uh to actually uh conduct this Mission as we have done for 47 7 years now the Vanguard submarines come to the end of their life in 2028 to retain a constant aty deterrent four new replacement submarines must be built a vote on that will be held in Parliament soon possibly in a matter of weeks and so the defense secretary visited HMS Vigilant to make the case this is a much more dangerous and less predictable world than when the deterrent first sailed in the 1960s we can't be sure what adversaries may be out there in the 2030s the 2040s the 2050s we know North Korea uh exploded a nuclear weapon just two weeks ago but we need to plan ahead and be sure this country is properly protected in 20 30 40 years time all sir submarines for postc Sil rou Team final reports Britain is only one of three NATO members to have a nuclear deterrent it will cost at least 31 billion to renew it probably much more just one reason why it is a controversial decision we estimate that there are 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world today uh um and they represent an extreme threat uh to the UK uh and extreme threats if they were to be used and the protection against those threats uh can only be counted by the use of a a submarine on on patrol Vigilant will set sail sometime in the next few months to take over other nuclear submarines which is on patrol Under the Sea somewhere in the world right now alist buncle Sky News fazlan

Channel: Sky News

Views: 310,850

Keywords: trident, nuclear submarine, navy, uk defence, behind the scenes, war

Id: aUnoGsJnyc0

Length: 3min 41sec (221 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 22 2016