Thin Pinstriped Line

On a dark February day in early 1971 off the coast of Plymouth, there was rising concern about the fact that the unthinkable had happened. The small elderly Naval Armaments Vessel (NAV) THROSK, on passage to the Royal Navy Armaments Depot Coulport, in Scotland, and carrying Polaris nuclear warhead sub-assemblies, had vanished. Warships put to sea, and helicopters from RNAS Culdrose were launched in a desperate search operation to find her. Despite this, no sign could be found. At 0824 that morning, Flag Officer Plymouth sent a SECRET signal initiating the procedures for a possible ‘Nuclear Weapon Accident’ and the Royal Navy prepared for the previously unthinkable reality that one its strategic nuclear warheads was missing… This sounds the stuff of good Cold War fiction, or a scenario from a disaster planning exercise. In fact it is completely true and represents an all but forgotten story of the early days of the Polaris force and the challenges faced by the Royal Navy as it set up ...

  The UK has launched a new Strategic Defence Review and within a week there is a political ‘scandal’ as Ministers fail to rule out scrapping the RAF’s next generation fighter aircraft known as Tempest. Cue outrage all round as Ministers refuse to commit to the programme, breathless commentary in the papers ranging from informed insight to articles by Lewis Page, and a general sense that we’re all in trouble. Clearly silly season is upon us again. For those unfamiliar with UK politics, the summer lull, usually late July to early September is a period when politics and government is paused, with most people taking a well deserved break. The   lull in meaningful business leads to playful news articles and increasingly desperate attempts to fill column inches – normally by taking a random set of statistics, finding obscure reasons to be outraged and then writing about in language that suggests the end times are upon us again. UK MOD © Crown copyright 2021 In this case it’s a ...

  The Royal Navy has a long and proud history of sending submarines to carry out highly sensitive missions in places they shouldn’t be, taking pictures of things they shouldn’t see, and listening to private conversations that weren’t intended to be overheard. For very good reasons the vast bulk of these operations remain sealed away, unlikely to ever be seen by the public. Yet occasionally, and for reasons which seem to make no rationale sense, the odd file emerges which casts a little bit of light into this dark and mysterious world. There are other Pinstripedline blogs on naval intelligence collection missions, including one about classified submarine missions   and Operation KEYSTONE about operations off Murmansk with the surface fleet. This article though is about the story of OPERATION SCOOP, an intelligence gathering mission carried out by HMS OCELOT in 1968, in the Med, against Soviet naval vessels. HMS AMBUSH ( CROWN COPYRIGHT 2012) The Mediterranean has long held a ...

  The 2024 UK General Election has been held, and a new Government returned. For only the 4 th time in 45 years, there has been a handover of power, on this occasion between the Conservative and Labour party. The new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP had, within hours of his election victory assumed office in a peaceful and smooth transition of power, the sort of moment that makes you realise how truly fortunate the UK is to enjoy an election where the outcome is accepted without question or debate. Now that the Prime Minister is settled in No 10 Downing Street, the detailed business of the transition of power has begun. If you believe various media accounts, practically the first thing that happens is that the newly appointed Prime Minister is given a briefing on the nuclear deterrent, a pad of paper and a pen, and ask to discreetly write down their views on what the end of the world should look like. Known as the ‘Letters of Last Resort’ these documents have assumed a near myt...