Seen for the first time, our nuclear button
WITH its slightly chipped red grip and retro look, it could be the hand control for a Scalextric set or games console.
In fact, the device seen here for the first time is the trigger to Britain’s nuclear deterrent, a button that when pressed could destroy hundreds of thousands of lives.
It is in the hand of Lieutenant Commander Woods, the weapons engineer officer on HMS Vigilant, one of four Vanguard class submarines that carries up to eight Trident missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
The 38-year-old father of three has spent 16 years training for the moment when Vigilant’s commanding officer, Commander Dan Martyn, utters the words ‘missiles for strategic launch’.
When that order is given, Lt Cdr Woods will have no idea of his location, what is happening in the world, or what the target is. But he knows that he will hold the grip – modelled on a Colt 45 Peacemaker handgun – and press the trigger without hesitation.
Speaking yesterday for the first time about his role, Lt Cdr Wood, whose first name cannot be given, said: ‘It is a combination of an honour and a burden. Knowing what could be on your hands is obviously a heavy load to deal with, but at the same time, our political masters trust us to deliver the deterrent.’
Asked if he was ready to press the trigger, Lt Cdr Woods said: ‘Ultimately, yes. We have to act on the orders of our political lords and masters.
‘When we are at sea, we don’t know the whole story and we have to trust that they know what they are doing.
‘If we are in the position of launching it, then ultimately deterrence has failed. It is important that no one person on board the submarine has the
ability to control and launch on their own. He [the commanding officer] has part of the jigsaw puzzle, I have the other half.’
Lt Cdr Woods and his deputy are the only two with access to the safe that houses the trigger. It is taken out every time they are on duty, which might explain why it looks a little battered despite never being used.
There are two scenarios in which Lt Cdr Woods could find himself pressing the trigger.
In the first, the Prime Minister is still alive and sends a coded message submariners must authenticate. ‘All the targets are prepared shore side and they are transmitted to the submarine. Target packages are classified and... we cannot see what they are,’ Lt Cdr Woods said.
Then the ‘firing chain’ begins, in which personnel have individual, top-secret missions and the commanding officer shouts ‘action stations, missiles for strategic launch’.
Lt Cdr Woods said: ‘Throughout the whole sequence we operate with the principle of two-man control so there will never be a moment where a single person after the Prime Minister could have full control of the weapons system. So we will take the signal, authenticate its contents, make sure the Prime Minister’s direction is valid, and that it isn’t someone trying to spoof us, and then we will start preparing the missiles for launch.
‘It is not just a case of point and shoot. This is a complex calculation that needs to go from bringing a missile from an unknown launch point to the destination.’
When the stages are complete, Lt Cdr Woods will press the trigger. ‘Ultimately, it is quite a feat of engineering. You are looking at moving 60 tons through the water. Once the missile has left the submarine there is no self-destruct button. Once it has gone from here, it is fire and forget.’
In the second scenario, Britain has been destroyed and there is no government left. The submariners then turn to the ‘ letter of last resort’. It has been written by David Cameron and instructs those on the boat what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster. It is kept locked in a safe inside another safe in the control room and no one except the Prime Minister knows what it says.
Cdr Martyn said: ‘I can open the Prime Minister’s letter in the presence of an officer who would give me his instructions of what he wanted me to do.’
When a prime minister leaves office, the letter is removed from the safe and returned to him or her personally without being opened.
Lt Cdr Woods said: ‘The Trident system is ultimately a political weapons system. We have been continuously at sea conducting deterrent patrols since 1969. For 47 years we have not had to pull the trigger. That deterrent has been effective.’
He has been in control of the trigger on all four of Britain’s nuclear submarines in the past three years. Asked if it was the job he always wanted, he said: ‘Ultimately, yes.’