HC Deb 17 May 1996 vol 277 cc621-2W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what action has been taken or is planned to remove radioactive material from the grave of HMS Sheffield. [29764]

Mr. Soames

None.

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give(a) the location and (b) the depth at which HMS Sheffield is estimated to lie. [29763]

Mr. Soames

HMS Sheffield sank some 350 miles east of the Falkland Islands, and is lying at a depth of approximately 2,000m.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what actions his Department has taken to retrieve objects on HMS Sheffield, which sank off the coast of the Falkland Islands in 1982; if he will list the objects which have been removed from HMS Sheffield; what forms of monitoring his Department has carried out on HMS Sheffield since she sank; and if he will make a statement; [29880]

(2) how many nuclear depth charges and of what type were carried by HMS Sheffield when she sank; and if he will make a statement; [29882]

(3) if he will list the nuclear weapons that his Department has lost in the past 30 years. [29881]

Mr. Soames

HMS Sheffield was abandoned when it proved impossible to extinguish fires resulting from a direct missile hit. She was later taken under tow, but sank six days after being hit. During those six days, small parties were helicoptered on to the ship on several occasions, primarily to assess the prospects of salvage and to see if lessons could be drawn. I understand that the only equipment that was recovered in this period was firefighting apparatus, which had been borrowed from other ships. No efforts were made to recover further equipment then or subsequently and, as HMS Sheffield sank in very deep water, no form of subsequent monitoring was either necessary or carried out.

It has been the practice of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons in specific locations at specific times. I can, however, confirm that the UK has never lost such a weapon, nor lost and subsequently recovered one.