Duffy asks whether proceeding with a Polaris replacement would reduce employment and output in yards building surface warships unless the defence budget allocated more money to shipbuilding. The decision therefore carried an opportunity cost for the rest of the Royal Navy rather than sitting outside ordinary force planning. After an intervention, he returns to the specialist capacity needed to build the future deterrent submarines. The same industrial system also had to provide nuclear-powered attack submarines and a proposed 2,400-ton diesel-electric class. His questions expose deterrent procurement as a budget, workforce, and shipyard-capacity choice with consequences across the fleet.
Chapter · 30:38-32:18
Polaris replacement competes for specialist warship capacity
Duffy asks whether a successor deterrent would displace surface construction and how specialist yards could also provide attack and diesel-electric submarines.