The nuclear debate at 70

Jackie Macadam meets a manse couple who have long campaigned against the nuclear deterrent, and a former nuclear submariner.

SEVENTY years ago this month, the first nuclear powered submarine was launched.

The USS Nautilus, (yes, it shared a name with Captain Nemo’s craft), went on to serve for many years until being taken out of service in 1980. Nautilus took part in the Cuban Missile Crisis and did the first circumnavigation of the North Pole. A nuclear reactor driving her meant she could stay at sea far longer than diesel driven subs at the time and gave her a significant advantage over the others.

Though Nautilus was not armed with nuclear weapons, it wasn’t long before the advantages of not having to surface were realised and subs carrying nuclear missiles were able to stay submerged, undetected and thus be more effective as weapons.

As their ‘efficiency’ increased, so did their profile and the opposition to them grew, especially in humanitarian organisations like the Church of Scotland.

Molly and the Rev John Harvey have been staunchly against nuclear weapons throughout their lives.

“For centuries, the Christian Church has sought to bring warfare under the control of the God and Father of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace,” says John.

“To take two examples.

“As their ‘efficiency’ increased, so did their profile and the opposition to them grew, especially in humanitarian organisations like the Church of Scotland.

“In 1139, Pope Innocent II attempted to ban the use of the crossbow in warfare ‘between Christians’ - as being ‘hateful to God’. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas systematised the age-old theories of just war and just conduct of war, which grew into the generally accepted Christian position that war cannot be justified if it affects non-combatants in circumstances which they did not create, nor can it be justified if it uses weapons ‘whose effects cannot be controlled’.”

Molly explains: “For decades, since the early 1980s, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in the spirit of these widely accepted Christian views, has publicly and frequently called out ‘the use and threatened use’ of nuclear weapons as ‘theologically and morally indefensible’ as have all the major Christian denominations in the UK and world-wide and countless other faith communities across the globe.

“Yet still today, of the 195 countries in the world, nine of the most powerful still hold between them over 9,500 nuclear warheads, at huge expense, insisting that they are needed as a ‘deterrent’ - while wars, killing thousands and devastating societies in almost every part of the world, continue regardless.

“We, just two church members among tens of thousands of other concerned citizens, have been actively protesting against the possession of nuclear weapons by the UK for the past seven decades.

“In 1961, we marched against Polaris in the Holy Loch with other members of the Gorbals Group Ministry, including Geoff Shaw of the Church of Scotland, and Lilias Graham and Joyce Livingston of the Scottish Episcopal Church. In the same year, we joined thousands in one of the famous Aldermaston Marches organised by CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). Since then, along with church members from all over Scotland, we’ve demonstrated many times at the Faslane Nuclear Submarine Base under the banner of SCANA (Scottish Christians Against Nuclear Arms).”

But being steadfast in their campaigning comes with penalties.

“Molly, along with fellow members of the Iona Community, has been arrested a number of times at Faslane,” says John. “In February 2001, she was charged in Helensburgh District Court with breach of the peace – sitting down in front of the Faslane gates to share in a service of Holy Communion, and refusing to move when asked to do so. In court, Molly gave her reasons for her action.

“I firmly believe I had no choice in the matter, and that for two reasons.

“First, Trident is capable of destroying most of the northern hemisphere in ten minutes. Thirty million men, women and children would be wiped out in ten minutes, and the effect of the radiation would make much of the earth uninhabitable.

“I therefore, as a mother and grandmother, would be failing my children and grandchildren if I did not make a stand against it.

“Second, the cost of Trident (this was 30 years ago) is said to be the equivalent of spending £30,000 a day since the birth of Christ. Is this what we, a so-called civilised society, really consider to be responsible use of our money?

“I work in partnership with families living in poverty and social exclusion in Glasgow, and therefore would be failing these people, who I feel privileged to call my friends, if I did not make a stand against this obscene expenditure.”

Molly was given a fine of £150 for “conducting herself in a disorderly manner”.

She refused to pay the fine, and was sentenced to a week’s detention in Cornton Vale women’s prison near Stirling, serving only three days of the sentence “for good behaviour”.

John said: “The Church’s witness against nuclear weapons has demonstrably not succeeded in getting them banned. But in seeking, over the centuries, to spotlight this consistent teaching against the indiscriminate effects of weapons of mass destruction, from crossbows to nuclear weapons, we believe that the Church is seeking to embody the principle most powerfully stated by Mother Teresa of Kolkata – ‘God has called me not to be successful, God has called me to be faithful’.”

For others, the nuclear submarines have been a way of life for many years. They have served on them and reconciled feelings about weaponry with a life or service.

Kenneth Nesbitt, a member from Dalgety Parish Church in Fife, is one of them.

He worked on nuclear submarines in communications.

“Americans call them ‘subs’, the Royal Navy calls them ‘boats’ – submarines,” he says. ”I spent ten years in boats, and when I started, the job (telecommunications) was a real skill (one officer described it as a secret dark art). I was a highly trained Morse Code Operator, and spent a year training as a high speed touch typist.

“After serving briefly on diesel-electric (conventional) boats, I transferred to the nuclear-powered Polaris boats for one simple reason: they were the only boats that could guarantee me remaining in Scotland. Whereas washing was nigh on impossible in conventional boats, and everyone stank of diesel, nuclear boats had a sanitised ‘non- smell’. The air onboard was so pure that after a long patrol, and we opened the hatch, lots of people would come down with all sorts of sniffles and coughs, given the unfiltered air came into the boat.

“Life onboard a Polaris boat was one of routine. Going round in circles for three months, moving away from anything that could track us. As a Junior Rating, we did three watches (shifts) a day, which helped break up the monotony. More senior ratings could spend a couple of days without a shift.

“The food was good and plentiful, though one patrol was unexpectedly extended for several weeks, and we were mainly reduced to tinned back up food.

“On patrol itself, the boat would move very, very slowly indeed, to reduce cavitation (the effect of water passing around the outer hull) noise. However, when our boat was relieved by another one, we’d stand down from patrol status and then it would be full steam ahead, dived, back to home waters. At full speed, the boat would vibrate and shake heavily; I remember it as an exciting feeling. Once in our surfacing area, the boat would surface, then I, as Signalman, would be the first on the bridge (the top of the fin, often called the conning tower in lay persons’ language) with the Officer of the Watch.

“We’d find any space we could to exercise; in the torpedo compartment, missile compartment, wherever we could. On one boat we had an exercise bike and a map of the country. We’d ‘cycle’ across the country, marking our progress.

“There’d also be at least one ‘mess dinner’ where everyone would dress up and there’d be excellent food and wine. When it was the Junior Ratings’ turn, the Senior Ratings would serve them.

“One of my most intense memories was being on patrol at Christmas. Gradually the radio chatter would quieten down, and we were only too aware that we were one of the few submarines in the world actually at sea. I was quite down and withdrawn on Christmas Eve and a shipmate came to drag me out of my rack (bed). I reluctantly went with him, and it was wondrous; a carol concert with mince pies and stuff. I was grateful he ignored my protests. On Christmas morning, ‘Santa’ distributed presents. Behind the scenes, he’d asked everyone’s families to donate a Christmas present to their loved ones, to be kept in Santa’s Sack till Christmas morning.

“In 1961, we marched against Polaris in the Holy Loch with other members of the Gorbals Group Ministry, including Geoff Shaw of the Church of Scotland, and Lilias Graham and Joyce Livingston of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

“Finally reaching home was exciting. When we first went on the boat, at crew change, it felt very cramped. However, very quickly it just seemed normal. However, when finally surfacing and reaching home port, having lived in such cramped spaces, the world seemed huge!

“I grew up during the Cold War and the nuclear stand off had been going on for years before I even joined the navy.” Kenneth says.

“To be truthful, I never really thought about the massive destructive force I was operating and living in. Like most sailors, I just wanted to get my job done and get home, though when political tensions arose, I did occasionally wonder whether I’d make it home. I knew full well that launching missiles, apart from the massive destruction, would give our boat’s position away and we’d not last long with Russian Hunter Killer boats targeting us. Of course, we had weapons too, torpedoes, but we’d be seriously outgunned.

“Now, I’m older and I’m not so sure. “For a long time, I questioned why we needed an independent nuclear deterrent, when the money could be better spent elsewhere.

“Now however, I’m torn. The question is far bigger than me and is one of the few things in life I am still conflicted about.”