Baltic Defence Review, a highly respectable all weapon types, multinational website, provides July 9, 2026 commentary on Canada's choice of the TKMS Type 212CD. Here are the rough construction timings between the German, Norwegian and Canadian 212CD allies,
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13 comments:
Hi Pete,
Interesting interview by Forces News UK with the RN First Sea Lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins (RM) on the pending re-commissioning of HMS Daring that was laid up in 2017 for refit..
Daring only spent 8 years in full commission, so is returning to service after 9 years. This speaks volumes about the current condition of the RN and I very much doubt that the RN is ready to fight a peer Nation, such as Russia, by itself. https://www.forcesnews.com/services/navy/morales-high-and-navys-ready-fight-first-sea-lord-tells-bfbs-candid-interview
Hi Shawn
For anyone who is not a Pom its strange the Royal Navy is more or less represented by a General - even if he IS from the Royal Marines (RM).
Poor Britain is suffering a perfect storm of a Rampant Russians with Putin manipulating vain Trump - a RAF, Army and UK RN screaming out for more money and resources to face said Russians and to support Ukraine - Trump under Putin's guidance gutting NATO - the RN reeling from defective naval reactors - carriers they shouldn't have built with tiny airwings they cannot afford - need for nuclear weapons for the RAF which the US will sell to them at prices recommended by Putin. The list goes on.
Cheers Pete
And let’s not forget that Brexit means that the UK cannot tap into the €150 billion EU SAFE defence fund.
Hi Shawn
Other Pommy happenings
Its been a busy period in the U.K., with Britain's long-awaited Defence Investment Plan published. Highlights included £5bn for drones to help the RN's Hybrid Navy push,
Type 83s (were to be proposed guided-missile destroyers envisaged to enter service with the UK RN in the late 2030s.)
scrapped in favour of six Common Combat Vessels plus drone escorts,
and four new amphibious ships built in the U.K. to a Dutch design for a joint amphibious force with the Royal Netherlands Navy.
If all that wasn't enough, F35s had to see off a Russian MPA dropping sonobuoys too close for comfort to RN carrier and flagship HMS Prince of Wales, and the RN launched a jet strike drone at sea for the first time.
Sounds like the beginnings of a larger Greyzone War
Cheers Pete
Hi Pete & Shawn,
Speaking of the RN's troubles, I recall reading on SubMatts recently that currently there are no Astute-class SSNs available for tasking.
In my opinion, it is certainly not normal for all boats in a 5-hull fleet to be in dock at the same time. Especially a fleet that carries strategic importance like the SSNs, in a Navy that's been operating nuclear-powered boats for several decades at this point.
Yes, there are infrastructure problems with the dockyards but I'm left to wonder how much of this is down to the reactor problems they've been having. PWR2 is the first naval reactor that's supposed to be UK-designed (earlier PWR1 was directly derived from US designs). If I was a betting man, I'd say that while they may have absorbed plenty of 'know-how' from the Americans, the level of their 'know-why' knowledge might still be nascent. And I think that's what is showing.
Just as well, considering they're going back to seeking direct US assistance for the upcoming PWR3 (publicly known to be derived from the Virginia-class's S9G), meant for Dreadnought-class & SSN-AUKUS. So it seems they've abandoned trying to acquire that know-why through iterative R&D, probably due to cost reasons. Otherwise they wouldn't be taking that step back toward continued dependence on US reactor designs after already having designed their own reactor once.
Anyway that's my take on a program I really don't know much about. You, Shawn or other commenters that are more familiar with the British program can offer better perspective on the reactor situation.
Cheers,
Gessler
Hi Gessler at 7/13/2026 6:13 PM
See my "No UK Astutes Available Again! Safety Fears Demand Lengthy Repairs" of June 8, 2026 at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2026/06/no-uk-astutes-available-again-safety.html where I explain:
"...all five Astute-class SSN's (HMS Astute, Ambush, Artful, Audacious and Anson) are unavailable, awaiting maintenance and repairs. The sixth (HMS Agamemnon) commissioned September 2025, is not yet ready to deploy. Last of class, HMS Achilles, is due to be commissioned sometime in 2028-29." then: "Constant checking by the RN detects a fault familiar to the RN. That is weakened or frayed piping that works with each Astute's PWR2 Reactor. Hot Pressurised water/steam can stress the piping over time. Minute piping holes may cause a release of low level radioactive water. If left undetected or unrepaired this may cause the piping to burst."
"Constant checking by the RN detects a fault familiar to the RN. That is weakened or frayed piping that works with each Astute's PWR2 Reactor. Hot Pressurised water/steam can stress the piping over time. Minute piping holes may cause a release of low level radioactive water. If left undetected or unrepaired this may cause the piping to burst." [potentially releasing low level, but safety regime significant, radioactive water.]
then further down:
"Put another way once the pipes split there can be loss of water based coolant demanding shutdown of the sub's reactor (at sea and especially in port). Any risk of release of coolant to civilian populated areas is, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), negligible, nothing to worry about. Although the dangers of this piping-to-reactor-risk has been examined and debated for many years. See this semi-paywalled 2011 Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/10/royal-navy-nuclear-submarine-reactor-flaws . Failing that see this 2014 BBC article https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-26463923 ). "
Also see my of June 23, 2026 "AUKUS Failing TWO - UK cannot deliver on the SSN-AUKUS project" at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2026/06/aukus-failing-two-uk-cannot-afford-ssn.html where I explain Australia has been asked to contribute to Rolls Royce's PWR3 development budgets because [I theorise] the Putin influenced Trump/Hegseth/USN see the PWR3 as an undeserving NATO project.
Its a complex matter. Hope this helps.
Regards Pete
I have seen news reports:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/26/asia-pacific/south-korea-nuclear-submarine-2030s/
that South Korea is looking at a nuclear powered variant of the KSS-III. Given that US nuclear subs seem to be getting further and further away and that UK subs are at least 2 decades away is it worth Australia's while to look at a Korean option?
Given that Korea has yet to build a nuclear submarine I could see the project slipping ir even facing cancelation, so it is high risk. On the other hand, we know Korea cn build d8esel boats. Perhaps a mixed fleet, with initial deliveries of conventional KSS-III followed by a nuclear variant when available? If the nuclear option is canceled Australia would still end up with a powerful fleet of conventional submarines.
Thanks Bill
I'll develop your idea as an article probably tomorrow.
I've long theorised here at SubMatts that SK would look to France's K15 LEU reactor for technology transfer. Also that the last KSS-III Batch 2 or Batch 3s would be nuclear powered.
Cheers Pete
I'm not a nuclear engineer but I think the problems with the PWR2 reactor started with cost cutting back in the early 1990s. Previously (PWR1) the UK had built a prototype reactor at Dounreay to check performance and safety. For PWR2 this was replaced by using computer simulations instead. See https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-51927359
This failed to detect problems with potential cracking on the coolant pipes, which could create a critical failure. This can be combatted with a lot of maintenance effort and full replacement of the pipes during full cycle maintenance. But that is a lot of work - years - each time.
https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/uks-naval-nuclear-reactors-ageing-ungracefully
It seems to be taking all the RN's technical resources to do that for the Vanguard SSBNs. There is not enough left to do Astutes as well, since Vanguard SSBNs appear to have been prioritised.
In my view PWR2 has turned out to be a faulty reactor design.
Thanks Pete
Something I forgot to mention in my earlier comment is that the KSS-III is about the same size as the American Skipjack class SSN, so a nuclear KSS-III variant should be technically feasible.
Also, if Australia wanted to partner with South Korea on SSNs we can provide not just uranium but enrichment technology as well., something the Koreans may be interested in.
Thanks Bill
I aim to write a KSS-III article Saturday or Sunday. Meantime see my references to much of this by putting KSS-LLL and KSS-III in the top lefthand search box.
My earliest mention of SK and its SSN visions was https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2015/04/south-korean-submarines-3000-ton-kss.html in 2015
Cheers Pete
Thank you for the insight & the links, Anon!
Thanks Pete!
I must apologize for only briefly glossing over these articles before. I'll be reading them (and the accompanying links) more thoroughly later tonight. Along with the links in Anon's comment above.
Cheers,
Gessler
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