N sent a ship from Plymouth to check it out, by the time it got there the Russians were long gone. If we were to believe the Westminster parties, after independence the Scottish defence capability would consist of a freefone number and a recorded message saying "We surrender" in six languages. We'd be defenceless against the Faroese hordes invading Muckle Flugga. There's a chasm between an independent Scotland's approach to defence and Westminster's approach.
It's a conceptual difference Westminster is unable to grasp, and it explains Michael Moore's recent plaintive whine that an independent Scotland would not be able to go off on its own bat and invade some Middle Eastern country, like that would be a bad thing.
An independent Scotland only requires a defence capacity, Westminster requires an attack capacity. The savings we'd make by no longer coughing up for Westminster's pretensions to Great Power status would alone pay for investment in Scottish jobs and industry which would more than compensate for any loss of defence sector jobs. Jim Murphy claimed recently that the Clyde shipyards depend on the Royal Navy for orders, and after independence "thousands" of jobs would be lost.
In fact the main defence employment casualty of independence is likely to be Jim Murphy. Jim's defence expertise extends to a faultless grasp of the fine military art of camouflage, he makes himself invisible whenever Labour get into a spot of bother in Scotland. According to an independent report by a professionally respected defence analyst, the defence jobs in the Clyde would continue to flourish after independence, and in fact could do rather better than they do just now. As for Trident a report dating back to the 60s when they were looking to site Polaris subs stated they were no suitible Ports in England, this is still the case.
But you also voose to ignore my point on warhead storage and infrastrucure cost. It is equipped with highly specialised and sensitive equipment for safely moving missiles and warheads and incorporates hardened concrete bunkers to store them.
