Damage found to submarine HMS Resolution at Rosyth Dockyard
A second decommissioned nuclear submarine stored at Rosyth Dockyard has had a hole found in its hull, The Courier can exclusively reveal.
HMS Resolution's crest.
- By Lars Niven
- Published in the Courier : 24.07.10
- Published online : 24.07.10 @ 01.51pm
HMS Resolution, one of seven old subs at the Fife yard, was found to be listing after water got into one of its ballast tanks.
The leak was discovered by divers during a routine check of the Polaris submarine's outer hull at the privately-owned dockyard.
Resolution, along with the other subs, is under attack from a common microbiological organism that emits sulphuric acid.
The organism has affected the North Sea oil industry for years, and was first found at Rosyth in 2008, when it holed HMS Revenge.
Revenge, which has been held in floating storage at Rosyth for about 20 years, began listing to starboard, just like Resolution.
Divers discovered three holes in Revenge's outer skin.
Seawater was getting into one of its external ballast tanks, but had not penetrated the pressure hull, and the holes were immediately plugged.
At that time, the Ministry of Defence said it would take each sub out of the water in turn and coat it with a protective paint.
Resolution was docked after work on the Revenge was completed and the MoD has confirmed problems were found on the second sub.
An MoD spokesman said, "Resolution was found to have microbiological-induced corrosion (MIC) during her docking, but not on the same scale as Revenge."
Other submarines clear
The spokesman added, "As part of a daily monitoring routine, divers reported a small hole in the outer hull of Resolution that was allowing seawater to enter one of the boat's external ballast tanks.
"It was listing to starboard by approximately 1.5 degrees.
"There is a large buoyancy reserve, which would have been sufficient for the boat to remain buoyant even if there were further water ingress and the entire tank were flooded."
Thomas Docherty, the MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, toured the dockyard at the invitation of owner Babcock just over a week ago.
He said he was disappointed he was not told and would raise the matter with the company.
Mr Docherty said, "This micro-organism attacks all vessels in the water, although being tied up does accelerate the process slightly.
"I will be writing to the relevant regulatory authorities to see if they will confirm whether they are content that there is no significant risk posed."
As for what to do with the subs in the long term, Mr Docherty added, "I have said that the subs should be decommissioned and stored in Cumbria until such time as the long-term repository is built."
The two remaining Polaris subs, HMS Repulse and Renown, are due to be docked and treated next year and in 2012 respectively.
The other three subs at Rosyth — Dreadnought (Dreadnought class), Churchill (V&C class) and Swiftsure (S class) — were checked and nothing found.
It costs the MoD £1 million a year to maintain the decommissioned submarines.
The oldest, Dreadnought, has been in floating storage at Rosyth since 1983.
The radioactive material on board the submarines is classed as "intermediate and low-level" waste.
The reactor compartments present problems for the MoD, which has been searching for years for a safe way to dispose of the contaminated material.
Crest image used under Creative Commons licence from Wikimedia Commons user legohead.
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