§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will assess the practicability of transporting HMS Tireless from Gibraltar to a British dockyard for repair on board a heavy equipment transporter ship. [144031]
§ Mr. SpellarThe safest and most practicable solution is to continue with the repair of HMS Tireless in Gibraltar. We have looked at the possibility of returning the submarine to the UK in a heavy transporter ship, but this would represent a major challenge. No UK nuclear submarine has ever been transported in this way before and to do so would require both considerable preparatory work on the submarine and extensive modification to the transporter ship. This work would likely take much longer than the repair programme that is currently in hand.