DISARMAMENT: Greenpeace Activists Board British Nuclear Submarine

GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov 25 (IPS) - Anti-nuclear protesters briefly boarded Britain's latest nuclear submarine -- in a bid to prevent it loading enough nuclear weapons to destroy 96 cities worldwide.

Activists from the Greenpeace environmental group took their converted tug, the Solo, to the Rhu Narrows at the entrance of the Gare Loch inlet leading to Britain's submarine base at Faslane near here.

They dropped marker buoys and cement filled barrels, with steel cables attached, in an attempt to create a web through which the submarine could not pass.

However, the new Trident-class submarine HMS Vanguard inched its way along the surface of the Gare Loch to the nearby armaments centre at Coulport, where it was due to load its nuclear weapons before engaging on its first active patrol, and was only held up for about one hour.

The submarine's captain, Commander John McLees, commented: "To hazard or to potentially hazard a nuclear submarine exiting the Gare Loch is silly. It could have been dangerous."

However, realising he might then be accused of carrying out a dangerous operation in the face of the Greenpeace protest, McLees immediately added: "We would not have exited the Gare Loch had it been dangerous."

As the submarine approached the Narrows, Greenpeace activists in rubber dinghies approached the Vanguard -- which is about 100 metres long -- and sought to trap it in a giant net. Amidst skirmishes with police, who were chasing them in high speed launches, the protesters managed to cast a net over Vanguard's bows.

In the ensuing melee, police and Royal Navy divers tore off the net and managed to cut many of the wires intended to block the submarine's passage.

Greenpeace spokesman Thomas Shultz said: "We delayed the Trident for several hours." He also said that the intention of the protest was "to stop this Trident submarine and the nuclear arms race."

Another Greenpeace activist, Janet Convery, said in a statement: "This is an obscene escalation of British nuclear capacity, just two months before the United Nations meets to discuss nuclear disarmament and the spread of nuclear weapons. The United Kingdom is provoking a new arms race by launching this weapon."

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service