The Reunion

Sue MacGregor meets the pioneers of Britain's first nuclear submarines.

The first all-British designed nuclear submarine, HMS Valiant, went into service 50 years ago. Known as "The Black Pig", for the frequency with which repairs were needed, the submarine featured a revolutionary noise-limiting design that allowed it to hide at sea for long periods undetected – and it paved the way for the Polaris submarines that followed. Based on its predecessor’s design, the new submarines carried Britain's nuclear deterrent underwater for the first time.

Valiant was beaten to sea by another nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought. Although British-built, much of Dreadnought's machinery, including the nuclear reactor, was American – the result of a deal to speed up the UK’s nuclear propulsion project and give the US a nuclear ally in the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Nuclear technology revolutionised life at sea. While conventional diesel submarines regularly had to surface in order to recharge their batteries and suck in fresh air, nuclear submarines could stay submerged for months, under their own power, creating their own fresh air. Valiant and her successors embarked on Cold War games of cat and mouse, following Soviet ships and sliding underneath to photograph their hulls or propellers.

Joining Sue to discuss the building, and early days of the first British nuclear submarines, are six of the men who designed and worked on them – Admiral Peter (SPAM) Hammersley, David Wixon, John Jacobsen, Bas Bowyer, Harry Brazier and Wally Whymark. They recall the early teething problems, life underwater and Cold War espionage.

Presenter/Sue MacGregor, Producer/David Prest for Whistledown

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