The Government have announced that three Trafalgar class submarines will be moved from Devonport to Faslane between 2014 and 2017.  This will bring forward the date when all nuclear submarines will be based in Scotland.  This follows an earlier decision to base the new Astute class at Faslane.  Both Trafalgar and Astute submarines are nuclear-powered but not nuclear armed.

On 6 May Bob Ainsworth, Armed Forces Minister, told the House of Commons:

"Following on from that, HM Naval Base Clyde will become the main operating base for all classes of submarines, including the future classes of submarines, such as the replacement for the Vanguard Class, and eight Sandown Class Mine Counter Measure Vessels. Fleet Time Engineering support for these vessels will also be undertaken at Clyde. To reduce duplication of facilities and to provide future stability for submarine personnel, we intend to accelerate the move towards a single submarine operating base some six years earlier than originally planned, although there will be no base-porting changes for around five years. This decision will see three of the Trafalgar Class submarines transfer their base port to HM Naval Base Clyde upon completion of their respective mid-commission major maintenance periods. This is currently expected to be by 2017, while four will remain at HM Naval Base Devonport until their planned decommissioning dates (currently 2010 to 2017). We will ensure that the necessary infrastructure to support this move will be put in place."

The Trafalgar class submarines will only be based at Faslane in their final years before being scrapped. The decommissioning dates were released to Parliament on 3 March.  On this basis it is possible to estimate that the additional submarines will be based at Faslane as follows:

HMS Trenchant  2014 - 2017
HMS Talent  2015  - 2019
HMS Triumph 2017 - 2022

There are currently 4 Trident submarines based at Faslane, plus HMS Sceptre which is due to be scrapped in 2010.  The Astute class will be based at Faslane.  The first of class, HMS Astute, was due to arrive in Faslane for sea trials in 2009. There have been repeated delays to the completion of  HMS Astute, including a recent serious fire onboard while at Barrow.  The MoD plan is to build 7 Astute submarines, but so far orders have only been placed  for the first three.

Claims that this will create 1,000 new jobs are much exaggerated.  Most of the jobs are the sailors crewing the submarines.  The increase in civilian posts will be relatively small.  As these three submarines will only be at Faslane for 3-5 years their redeployment will have little impact on the long-term size of the workforce.

The recent announcement follows news that SEPA were very concerned about inadequate procedures at Faslane for handling nuclear waste discharges.  The documents released by SEPA included an MoD projection in August 2008 that the three Trafalgar class submarines would move to Faslane from 2012. This is two years earlier than the formal announcement.