Astute Weapons

HMS Astute spent more than ten hours on a sandbank last Friday off the Isle of Skye. Luckily nobody was injured and there was no threat to the environment from the nuclear reactor but it made me think about the "astute" nature of this country's defences. We heard that there are 39,000 acoustic panels so that nobody will know its location. Well I can now confirm that there are times when 39,000 panels are not enough.

Accidents happen and I am sure this was not the first time that a submarine was left high and dry and it won't be the last. In fact the Ministry of Defence said this was not a major incidence. Would it have been a major incident if it had been carrying nuclear weapons? Is this our country's main defence?

On Tuesday I wrote about the effects of the bouncing bomb. In relative terms this is nothing compared to the effects of a nuclear warhead. If the Geneva Conventions do not allow for the bombing of dams then how do they see the use of nuclear weapons? I am not convinced of the need for this country to renew its nuclear weapons and I am not convinced that we could use them legitimately if we did have them.

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