The full scope of the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons is revealed while the prospect of Putin’s attack persists

The world is closer to nuclear war than it has been since the Cold War, and incidents such as the Cuban Missile Crisis have brought the West within touching distance of catastrophe. Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine has reignited the nuclear-weapons debate, which is only growing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asks the West to go beyond sanctions. Poland’s deputy prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, urged the US this weekend to station nuclear weapons on Polish soil, a move that would undoubtedly be viewed as a major escalation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview with the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, he stated, “If the Americans requested us to put US nuclear weapons in Poland, we would be willing to do so.”

“It would considerably strengthen Moscow’s deterrence.”

Putin placed his nuclear deterrent forces on high alert in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the first case of its type in Europe in decades.

Express.co.uk has now investigated the United Kingdom’s own nuclear arsenal, which is meant to repel the most severe threats to national security.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the government believes that a “minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent declared to NATO defence is necessary to our security and those of our NATO partners.”

Both Russia and the United States have thousands of nuclear weapons, with the former having the most in the world, the bulk of which are at least five times more powerful than the bombs that annihilated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

France and the United Kingdom, both NATO members, have nuclear weapons of their own, although they are far less potent than the nuclear giants.

The United Kingdom is said to have 225 nuclear warheads in its Trident nuclear weapons programme, however only 120 of them are operational.

These are available for deployment on four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines of the Vanguard class (SSBNs).

At all times, one of the four SSBNs is stationed at sea in what is known as a Continuous At-Sea Deterrent (CASD) posture.

Meanwhile, two others stay in port, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

According to the non-profit organisation Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the fourth SSBN is still being overhauled and cannot be deployed quickly, if at all.

While on patrol, British SSBNs perform a variety of functions, including scientific data collecting.

They are stationed in Her Majesty’s Naval Base in Clyde, also known as Faslane, which serves as the Royal Navy’s primary Scottish base.

Non-operational warheads are housed in the Royal Naval Armaments Depot, three kilometres west of the facility.

The United Kingdom has been gradually lowering its nuclear weapons over the previous two decades, but reversed this decision last year.

In its 2021 Integrated Review, the Government declared that the top limit of the UK’s nuclear inventory will be raised to no more than 260 warheads, the first increase since the Cold War’s conclusion.

According to GetSurrey, Britain’s nuclear weapons are made in the United States, while the Vanguard submarines are built in the United Kingdom.

Each Trident missile has a range of up to 7,500 miles (12,070 kilometres) and a destructive force comparable to eight Hiroshima-era bombs.

The Vanguard systems will be replaced by the Royal Navy’s upcoming Dreadnought Class submarine.