{"id":1528,"date":"2026-06-28T12:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/06\/28\/uk-left-without-nuclear-attack-subs-at-sea-media\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T12:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:08:52","slug":"uk-left-without-nuclear-attack-subs-at-sea-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1528","title":{"rendered":"UK left without nuclear attack subs at sea \u2013 media"},"content":{"rendered":"

All five Astute-class vessels are out of action due to maintenance woes exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure, according to Defence Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s entire fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines is currently stuck in port due to maintenance bottlenecks, the UK Defence Journal reported on Saturday. Former Royal Navy officers have warned that the situation makes Britain look \u201ctoothless\u201d<\/em> amid the continued stand-off with Russia.<\/p>\n

All five of the Royal Navy\u2019s operational Astute-class submarines are unavailable, the outlet said, citing open-source tracking of the fleet. A sixth boat, the HMS Agamemnon, was commissioned last year but remains in sea trials and is not yet ready for frontline service, while a seventh is still under construction.<\/p>\n

Two of the submarines are effectively inactive at Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland, after long spells out of the water, while two more are undergoing extended deep maintenance at Devonport, Plymouth \u2014 the only UK base equipped to service nuclear-powered vessels. A fifth boat, the HMS Anson, recently returned from deployment and is undergoing routine procedures.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"One
Britain \u2018incapable\u2019 of running nuclear submarines \u2013 ex-Royal Navy chief<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the report, the core problem is not the submarines\u2019 performance at sea but Britain\u2019s capacity to maintain them. Devonport has limited dry-dock space, while shortages of spare parts and specialist engineers have compounded delays \u2013 with at least one boat reportedly partly cannibalized for parts to keep others running.<\/p>\n

The UK has plans to rebuild dry docks at Devonport but the effort will take years to deliver, offering no short-term reprieve, the outlet noted, adding that the overall infrastructure woes mean that submarine personnel \u2013 already in short supply \u2013 are also losing the chance to maintain their sea-going skills while their boats remain tied up.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Britain's
Struggling Starmer to divert budgets to fund military<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Naval commanders cited by The Telegraph said the situation leaves Britain looking \u201ctoothless\u201d<\/em> against Russia. Former nuclear submarine captain Cdr. Ryan Ramsey called it a \u201cserious wake-up call,\u201d<\/em> adding that the problem had been \u201chidden for decades\u201d<\/em> but \u201ckicked down to the next person in charge.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The infrastructure bottlenecks became so conspicuous that The Times reported in February that the UK military had failed to spend over \u00a3500 million ($660 million) allocated for submarine maintenance since 2018, with constant delays in scheduled work.<\/p>\n

In December, retired Rear Admiral Philip Mathias, a former director of nuclear policy with the UK Defense Ministry, warned that Britain was \u201cno longer capable\u201d<\/em> of running a nuclear submarine program, citing \u201cshockingly low availability\u201d<\/em> driven by budget cuts and personnel mismanagement.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unprecedented situation in the nuclear submarine age. It is a catastrophic failure of succession and leadership planning,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All five Astute-class vessels are out of action due to maintenance woes exacerbated by inadequate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}