HMS Vanguard, one of the four Trident submarines that maintain the UK’s nuclear deterrent, left Devonport yesterday after a very much delayed Long Overhaul Period and Refuel (LOP(R)).

When Vanguard arrived in December 2015 for her second (LOP(R)) it was expected to take a maximum of 4 years and cost £200 million. Her three younger sisters, HMS Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance had already completed their first LOP(R) at Devonport averaging about 42 months. A combination of poor management, the impacts of COVID and additional challenges with refuelling resulted in Vanguard’s refit taking about 89 months, longer than the 83 months it took to originally build her.

A senior uniformed stakeholder admitted last year “Vanguard is a textbook example of how not to set up a major project. Among other things, we changed the scope of the project, did not invest in the workforce and did not invest in the infrastructure.” As a non-fixed-price contract, cost to the MoD is thought to have ballooned to over £500 million.

In January 2012, low levels of radioactivity were detected in the cooling water surrounding the Core H test-bed at the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) at Dounreay. It is believed this has been caused by microscopic leaks in the cladding that surrounds fuel elements. This is not a major safety issue and the test-bed is deliberately run much harder than an actual submarine reactor. No problems had been found in operational reactors but it was deemed sufficiently serious that the decision to refuel HMS Vanguard was taken as a precaution.

Dounreay has now been decommissioned and the RN no longer has a shore-based test reactor which could predict potential issues and find solutions before they occur in operational submarines. The closure was justified by improved computer modelling which in theory can carry out the same testing at a fraction of the cost.

During Vanguards’s first 35-month LOP(R) which took place between Feb 2002 and Jan 2005, she received the new Core H reactor. This new core design, which has subsequently been installed in her sister boats and on the Astute class submarines from the outset, was intended to avoid the need to refuel at all during its lifetime. Vanguard is therefore the first submarine to have a Core H refuelling, a task that was not envisaged when it was designed.

Vanguard will return to Faslane for workup before resuming deterrent patrols later this year. The subsequent three boats are also scheduled to have a second LOP but fortunately, further investigations discovered their reactors will not require refuelling. HMS Victorious will arrive in Plymouth soon for her much-delayed refit although there is some remedial works to be done in number 9 dry dock before it is ready to accommodate her. Work has also now begun to convert the adjacent number 10 dock for nuclear submarine maintenance.

In 2010 the Cameron government decided to delay starting the Dreadnought programme to replace the Vanguard class by five years. Maintaining the Continuous At Sea Deterrent therefore will place added pressure on the Submarine Service as the boats increasingly show their age. Vanguard’s LOP was her last major refit until she is replaced by HMS Dreadnought sometime in the early 2030s. Launched in 1992, the boat will be 38 years old by 2030, she was laid down in 1986 so parts of the boat’s structure will, by then, be 44 years old. Ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) by their nature are highly complex and it is critical they remain mechanically sound and retain their stealth, neither of these attributes is improved with age.

It is encouraging to see Vanguard return to sea and it represents the culmination of a great deal of effort by many people. However, the colossal delay to this project is not a good look, especially in light of the AUKUS agreement to assist Australia with SSN construction. It is incumbent on the submarine enterprise across the board to further increase investment in people and infrastructure while considerably improving performance.

Main Image: Tom Leach