Britain is no longer capable of running a nuclear submarine programme after "catastrophic" failures have pushed it to the brink, a former naval chief has warned, quoted by the "Sunday Telegraph".
Rear Admiral Philip Mathias, who is the former MoD nuclear policy chief, said the backlog in building new warships had reached a record low and had increased the length of patrols for crews from 70 days during the Cold War to more than 200 days now. This has led to "shockingly low availability" of submarines to "counter the Russian threat in the North Atlantic", the retired submarine commander warned.
The rear admiral, who led the 2010 review of the value for money of the "Trident" programme, has called on Britain to withdraw from the multi-billion dollar AUCUS defence deal with the US and Australia to build 12 new nuclear submarines.
"The UK is no longer capable of running a nuclear submarine programme," said Philip Mathias.
He noted that the order for battleships was being delayed, the delivery of "Astute" class submarines is delayed, there is a huge backlog in maintenance and repairs of the "Astute" class which continues to worsen, and the new SSN-Aukus submarine is a type that will not provide what the UK or Australia need in terms of capacity or timescale.
"This is an unprecedented situation in the nuclear submarine era. This is a catastrophic failure of continuity and planning," the rear admiral told the "Sunday Telegraph" newspaper.
Rear Admiral Philip Mathias: Britain no longer capable of running nuclear submarine programme
Catastrophic failures have pushed country to the brink, says former MoD nuclear policy chief
Dec 7, 2025 07:24 89
