Polaris: The History of the UK’s Submarine Force

By Keith Hall

Between 15 June 1968 and 13 May 1996, the Polaris submarines of the 10th Submarine Squadron carried out a total of 229 patrols, travelling over 2 million miles. Wherever you sit on the nuclear debate, it makes an impressive tale; delivered on time and on budget essentially by a small group of naval officers and civil servants, the Polaris programme ensured that Britain had a Continuous at Sea Deterrence for twenty-eight years. Polaris is not just the history of the weapons, submarines and politicians: it is the history of those who were there. Combining through history with personal memories and photographs, Keith Hall has created a long-lasting legacy to a fascinating project and provided an insight into a world that no longer exists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Jun 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9780750988506

Keith Hall

KEITH HALL was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. After leaving school at 18 years old, he joined the Royal Navy and spent thirty-three years in the medical branch; the majority of this time was spent on nuclear submarines or in shore billets in support of the Nuclear Propulsion Program. After leaving the Navy in 2003, he worked as a health physicist at HM Naval Base Clyde. He retired in 2015. An avid collector of old photographs and postcards, Keith Hall writes about local and naval history, particularly focusing on submarines. He is currently working on a book about the Navy’s Trident submarines, a follow-on to his work about the history of the Royal Navy’s Polaris programme.