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Friday, 15 February, 2002, 11:33 GMT
Navy to unveil mothballed nuclear sub
Courageous has been defueled and de-equipped
The Royal Navy has announced when it will open a decommissioned nuclear submarine , now based at a Royal Navy base in Devon, to the public.
Courageous, a 285-foot 3,500-ton submarine which served in the Falklands War, was taken out of commission in 1992. Now the Navy has announced funding has been secured to open the submarine, based at the Devonport base in Plymouth, to the public on 24, 25, and 26 August 2002. If the event is successful it is hoped to take the vessel out of the Navy's educational programme, and allow it to be run by an independent charitable trust. Busy base The opening of the submarine is part of the development of the visitors' centre at the naval base in Plymouth. It had been hoped Courageous might be open to the public by spring 2002, but the plan had to wait for sufficient funding and a for free dock to display the vessel. Funding was needed to put equipment back into the submarine, which had been stripped of much of its working parts when decommissioned. A dock has also been found at South Yard at the base.
Base spokeswoman Wendy Shaw told BBC News Online: " We want to let the public see how a nuclear-powered submarine works.
"There has been this aspiration - to put the submarine on display - since 1994. "It has been a question of getting the timing right. We are very busy here, being the busiest naval base in Europe. "We hope that public demand during the three navy days in August will help secure the future of the submarine as a visitor attraction. "If we get a really good take-up and see that the submarine has a real future, then we will hope to introduce more sophisticated features. "Putting Courageous on display is in line with our plans to expand the visitors' centre and the naval base museum to make us more accessible to the general public. Reactor removed "It will be unique in that it is the first nuclear-powered submarine in the United Kingdom to form a permanent exhibition." Courageous was built by Vickers Shipyard in Barrow and launched in 1970. The submarine was based in Faslane, Scotland, and arrived in Devonport in 1993 following decommissioning. The Navy said the vessel has been defuelled and de-equipped, which means the reactor core has been removed and the cooling circuit emptied.
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