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Navy News JUNE 1996 60p
JUTLAND: 80 years of debate
Sailors with a nose for trouble page 31
HMS Repulse heads up the Clyde as she returns from the final Polaris patrol.
Picture: CPO(PHOT) Al Campbell.
HMS Repulse returned to the Clyde Naval Base on May 13 to end 28 years of deterrent patrols by Polaris-armed nuclear submarines.
Since July 1968, Repulse and her sister vessels Resolution, Revenge and Renown, completed 229 patrols, the task now being undertaken by the Trident-armed Vanguard class. The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jock Slater, said the final Polaris patrol ended a distinguished chapter of naval history in which the programme had faced and overcome many technical and operational challenges. Admiral Slater joined Repulse as she made her final homeward run. He was accompanied on board by Rear Admiral Tony Whetstone who was the submarine's Commanding Officer on her first patrol in October, 1968. Since then the boat has made 59 more patrols and, since her present commission began in 1987 has covered 158,000 miles.
Pipers Two pipers on board playedAuld Long Syne and other Scottish tunes as Repulse came alongside Coulport for her missiles to be unloaded for the last time. A lasting tribute to the crews and support staff of the Polaris submarines will be made on August 28 with the unveiling of a monument dedicated to them. The event, at the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane, will include a memorial parade and service. Former crew members, and others who have been involved in the programme and who wish to attend should send a SAE to the Polaris ceremony manager, RN Strategic Systems School, HMNB Clyde, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, G48 8HL.
N-bomb
use 'is certain' "BY THE END of the decade nine countries will have nuclear bombs, ten will have biological weapons, more than 20 will have ballistic missiles and up to 30 will have chemical weapons. ". . . weapons of mass destruction are proliferating, the material to make them is more available than ever before, the ability to launch them across continents is growing, and there are sufficient numbers of aggressive regimes with unstable leaders to make their ultimate use, in one way or another, an absolute certainty." This chilling warning comes from Capt Richard Sharpe in his foreword to the 1996-97 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships, received as Navy News went to press. • Newsview - page 16.