HMNB Clyde

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde (HMNB Clyde) is the Royal Navy's main shore establishment in Scotland. It is home to the United Kingdom's fleet of nuclear submarines, including attack submarines and ballistic missile submarines. The main part of the base, officially named HMS Neptune and commonly known as Faslane, lies on Faslane Bay in Gare Loch, an inlet of the Firth of Clyde. The base also includes the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport on Loch Long, which stores, maintains and issues Trident missiles.

History

Faslane Port was first constructed in the Second World War. During the 1960s, the British Government began negotiating the Polaris Sales Agreement with the United States regarding the purchase of a Polaris missile system to fire British-built nuclear weapons from five specially constructed submarines. In the end, only four were constructed: HMS Resolution, HMS Repulse, HMS Renown and HMS Revenge. These four submarines were permanently based at Faslane.

Faslane itself was chosen to host these vessels at the height of the Cold War because of its geographic position, which forms a bastion on the relatively secluded but deep and easily navigable Gare Loch and Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. This position provides for rapid and stealthy access through the North Channel to the submarine patrolling areas in the North Atlantic, through the GIUK gap to the Norwegian Sea. At the time it was chosen, the location was also close to the American SSBN base at Holy Loch, which operated between 1961 and 1992. One boat was always on patrol at any given time.

In 1971, the base was home to the 3rd Submarine Squadron of Nuclear Fleet and Diesel Patrol Submarines, "the fighters", and the 10th Submarine Squadron, consisting of the four Polaris submarines, "the bombers".

On 19 March 2026, a 34-year-old Iranian man and a 31-year-old Romanian woman were arrested at the base after being refused permission to enter. Their intentions were unclear.

In command

Clyde-based vessels and units

The following notable vessels and units are based at Faslane.

Royal Navy

Commodore J. L. Perks OBE, Commander Submarine Flotilla/Commodore Submarine Service

Vanguard-class SSBNs

HMS Vanguard

HMS Victorious

HMS Vigilant

HMS Vengeance

Astute-class SSNs

HMS Astute

HMS Ambush

HMS Artful

HMS Audacious

HMS Anson

HMS Agamemnon (on sea trials as of September 2026)

Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessel:

HMS Bangor

Faslane Patrol Boat Squadron (Archer-class patrol vessels):

HMS Tracker

HMS Raider

Northern Diving Group

1 x Sea-class 15m diving support boat

Mine Threat and Exploitation Group

Arcims-class autonomous vessels

RNMB Hebe

RNMB Hydra

RNMB Hussar

RNMB Hazard

RNMB Harrier (forward deployed with 9 MCM Squadron at HMS Jufair, Bahrain in 2023)

RNMB Halcyon

RNMB Hellcat

Four vessels (Halcyon, Hussar, Hydra and Harrier) enabled for autonomous/uncrewed operations. Hebe accommodates a Portable Operations Centre Afloat that allows command & control of autonomous operations. The other vessels have been employed as crewed workboats for route surveys in Britain and elsewhere, as well as for trials of small uncrewed underwater vehicles.

Royal Marines (UK Commando Force)

43 Commando Fleet Protection Group

Headquarters Squadron

O Rifle Squadron

P Rifle Squadron

R Rifle Squadron

Island-class patrol vessels

Mull

Rona

Eorsa

Serco Marine Services

Multicat 2613-class utility boat

SD Angeline

Coastal oilers

SD Oilman

SD Waterpress

Impulse-class tugs

SD Impulse (A344)

SD Impetus (A345)

ATD 2909-class tugs

SD Reliable

SD Resourceful

SD Dependable

STAN 2608-class tugs

SD Jupiter

Oban-class tenders

SD Oronsay

SD Omagh

Personnel ferries

STAN 1505-class tenders

SD Clyde Racer

STAN 1905-class tenders

SD Clyde Spirit

Ministry of Defence Police

Clyde Marine Unit

Island-class patrol vessels

Iona

Skye

Lismore

Barra

Harris

Jura

Nuclear Division (Faslane Station)

Central Support Group

Role and operations

HMNB Clyde lies on the eastern shore of Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, to the north of the Firth of Clyde and 25 mi west of Glasgow. The submarine base encompasses a number of separate sites, the primary two being:

Faslane, 25 miles from Glasgow;

RNAD Coulport, beside Loch Long, 2 mi west of Faslane by air, approximately 8 mi by road or 19 mi by sea.

Faslane is also a Defence Equipment and Support site, operated in dual site organisation with Great Harbour, Greenock, by Babcock Marine and Technology, and managed by Serco Denholm.

The naval shore establishment at Faslane is HMS Neptune. Naval personnel appointed to the base who do not belong to a seagoing vessel make up ship's company. Both Gare Loch and Loch Long are sea lochs extending northwards from the Firth of Clyde. The base serves as home base to Britain's fleet of Vanguard-class submarine nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines, as well as conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines, supported by the 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines.

In command of HMNB Clyde is the Naval Base Commander (Clyde), Commodore Sharon Malkin. The base is home to a number of lodger units, including Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (who is also Rear Admiral Submarines), the Northern Diving Group and the Scottish headquarters of the Ministry of Defence Police. It is base to 3,000 service personnel, 800 of their families and 4,000 civilian workers, largely from Babcock Marine, forming a major part of the economy of Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire.

In 2018, the Secretary of State for Scotland at the time, David Mundell, said: "The UK's entire submarine fleet will be based at Faslane by 2020. This will reinforce Scotland's vital role in protecting our country, and guarantee skilled, secure jobs on the Clyde for years to come."

Safety and accidents at Faslane

Exercise Evening Star is the annual test of the emergency response routines to a nuclear weapon accident at Faslane. It is conducted by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. In 2011 the test failed as "a number of command and control aspects of the exercise were not considered to have been adequately demonstrated".

In 2013–14 there were 99 radiation accidents concerning nuclear reactors, and 6 with nuclear weapons. These are the highest numbers for at least six years. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) maintains that there was no risk to the public as most of them were minor accidents. The SNP defence spokesman, Angus Robertson, called the figures "totally shocking".

In 2015 the MoD argued that it was "entirely misleading" to focus only on the number of incidents, because they include "very minor issues such as the failure to fill out the correct form before painting works began." Indeed, the MoD stated that this "rigorous system shows how seriously MoD takes all aspects of nuclear safety, ensuring lessons are learned, and we can be clear that none of the events in the reports posed any risk to the health of our personnel, or to any members of the public." Indeed, one of the recorded events was the incorrect labeling of an empty pallet. Minor events were reported and investigated so that performance could be continuously improved. "This comprehensive, independent recording process allows Clyde to maintain a robust reporting culture, undertake learning from experience and to take early corrective action," the Defence Minister, Philip Dunne, told MPs.

In August 2025, Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle announced that a Category A event had occurred at the base between January and April 2025, defined as an incident with "actual or high potential for radioactive release to the environment". She would not provide details for national security reasons. She also stated two Category B events ("contained radiation exposure") and 100 Category C and D failures had occurred between 22 April 2024 and 22 April 2025. All the events were at International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale level one and no staff or public were harmed.

Anti-nuclear demonstrations

Given the presence of these nuclear capable missiles, Faslane has attracted demonstrations by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other Scottish pressure groups, including Trident Ploughshares. Since 1982, a permanent peace camp is outside the base gates, where there are frequent demonstrations and regular Wednesday protests. The presence of Faslane is also an issue in Scottish politics.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), the Scottish Socialist Party, and the Scottish Greens all oppose the deployment of nuclear weapons although the SNP have made assurances that they would retain the base for the servicing of conventionally armed and conventionally powered naval units. Members of those parties and indeed some from the Labour Party are often present at rallies. Also, some former independents, such as George Galloway attend rallies outside Faslane.

Faslane 365

The Faslane 365 campaign was a one-year protest at the base. It was a civil resistance initiative to apply critical public pressure for the disarmament of Britain's nuclear weapons.

The campaign was launched in September 2006, with the first protest action commencing on 1 October 2006 carried out by a campaigning group of women associated with protests at Greenham Common. It formally ended with a "Big Blockade" on 1 October 2007.

131 blockading groups took part in Faslane 365 and 1150 arrests were made.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “HMNB Clyde” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.