The Veteran Issue 7

The Ministry of Defence
planned, in 1963, to fire
Britain's first Polaris missile at
11.15 Eastern Standard Time
on 15th February 1968 - HMS
Resolution failed to achieve
this by 15 milliseconds, but the
firing was otherwise fully
successful!
The Royal Yacht Britannia at Faslane Scotland
with HMS Resolution in the foreground
Ordered in May 1963, she was built by
Vickers Armstrong at a cost of £40.2m.
The keel was laid down on 26 February
1964 by the Director General Ships, Sir
Alfred Sims, and the launch was on 15
September 1966, attended by Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The
submarine was commissioned on 2
October 1967, and following extensive
trials, including the firing of her first
Polaris missile on 15 February 1968,
commenced her first patrol on 15 June
1968. Being the United Kingdom's contribution to NATOs strategic nuclear
deterrent, at least one Polaris submarine was constantly on patrol, sailing
submerged 'one knows not where', but always carrying her deadly 'cargo' of twostage
ballistic missiles.
'Sherwood Forest' was the nickname given to the compartment housing these 16
missiles, which were 31 feet long, 4½ feet in diameter and weighed 28,000
pounds. Fired from the submerged submarine, the multiple nuclear warheads
could soar into the stratosphere and devastate a target 2,500 nautical miles
away. One Polaris submarine carried more destructive potential than the total
amount of explosives expended by all sides in the Second World War.
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