OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

ROYAL DOCKYARD  |  NORTH YARD

BASIN 3

North Basin.
From a postcard.

Basin 3 in the Royal Dockyard was between Basin 2 and Basin 4 and was 9 acres in extent.  It was 30 feet deep at Mean High Water of Spring Tides (MHWST). 

On its eastern side was the Quadrangle, where Numbers 1 and 2 Stores looked out over the Basin.  In front of Number 1 Store was the 10-ton mobile crane and in front of Number 2 Store and Sail Loft was the Steam Sheer Number 2.  On the western (Hamoaze) side of the Basin is the Boat Basin.

The Basin could be entered from the Hamoaze via Caisson B and also from Basin 2, to the south, through Caisson C.  Both Caissons were 80 feet in width.

Basin number 3 is now the Nuclear Submarine Graveyard.  Devonport apparently has twelve decommissioned nuclear submarines, of which 9 are in this Basin.  There is space for two more.  None have yet been broken up.  They, along with the eight at Rosyth, are costing 30 million pounds to store while the defuelling is 11 years behind schedule and the breaking up 15 years behind.  Nine of the total of twenty vessels still contain irradiated fuel.