The British Department of Defense may arrange the transfer of its submarines with a nuclear arsenal to military bases in the United States or France in the event of Scotland gaining independence, writes the Financial Times.
According to the newspaper, we are talking about submarines capable of carrying ballistic missiles of the Trident type. At the moment they are based in Scotland, but London is considering several scenarios in case of secession.
Now there are three options for the development of events. The first involves the deployment of submarines in another British port. Although back in 2014, before the first referendum on Scottish independence, the United Royal Institute for Security and Defense Research (RUSI) estimated the cost of such a plan at about $5.5 billion.
The second option is the deployment of submarines on the territory of one of the allied countries. For example, the American Kings Bay naval base in Georgia or the French nuclear submarine base on the Ile Long Peninsula near the port city of Brest.
The third option, codenamed “nuclear Gibraltar”, involves negotiating with an independent Scotland and endowing the Faslane and Coalport naval bases in the region with the status of British overseas territories.
It is noted that these options in the British Ministry of Defense will be considered only if Scotland gains full independence.