Written question asked by Gordon Prentice (Labour) on Monday, 25 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many fires there have been on (a) Upholder Class submarines and (b) other types of submarines in service with the Royal Navy since 1980 which did not arise in the course of combat.

Answer: Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many fires there have been on (a) Upholder Class submarines and (b) other types of submarines in service with the Royal Navy since 1980 which did not arise in the course of combat. [194395] Mr. Ingram: Centralised records of fires on RN submarines are only available from 1988. These records indicate that there were four fires on Upholder Class submarines during the in-service life of that class and 184 on other classes of submarines. The overwhelming majority of these were minor in nature. The figures include fires that arose during refit, repair and maintenance work in port as well as those that occurred on operational submarines at sea. No fires have occurred on the Upholder submarines since they were taken out of service or during reactivation prior to handover. The records do not specifically indicate which fires, if any, arose in the course of combat.

Secondary information