Jim Perks – What is the future of the Submarine Service?
Simon: And what is the future of the Submarine Service then do you think?
I think it’s very, very rosy. You’ve seen the Dreadnought Programme is on track. A couple of days ago the steel was cut for the Warspite, the 3rd Dreadnought submarine that will eventually replace the Vanguard Class. SSNRs or whatever submarine replaces the Astute Class is coming along and there’s going to be more of them which is good.
You’ll have seen in the Press the Orcas thing, the Australia requirement for nuclear submarines, what does that mean? We don’t know which way they’re going to go at the moment but there’s going to be a role for them, us somewhere.
I don’t mean us as BAE, I mean us as Submariners somewhere across the enterprise. Whether we end up building them or they end up buying them, no one knows at this stage what it is that’s going to happen but we need to be ready for it, and that’s going to be another enterprise approach, so the future is hugely rosy I think.
I joined the Navy in 1984 and I think at the last count we had 39 submarines I think. You know we’ve got 11 now, so we’ve been managing decline for my entire career and ironically, I guess it’s not irony, just as I leave it starts to grow again.
It’s going to take another 10 to 15 years but we’re on the up, we’re on the ascendance again. There’s money, the world is ever changing and there is that realisation again, funny old thing, cyclical isn’t it, making decisions to cut and then 10 years later we go, “Why did we make that decision?”
So, let’s have some strategic decisions. That is there now. I can’t see that being reversed. Who knows, maybe it could be? So, I see a bright future, a bright future, so again, I think Submariners past and present need to help in that journey and just telling people what it is that we do and how much fun it is and what great people we are (laughs) and help that journey.
The boys and girls currently in charge of our Submarine Service and doing the day-to-day thing are working harder than they should be. They need support.