Britain: An official handbook > 1977

DEFENCE
COMBAT FORCES
Nuclear
Strategic Force
Royal Navy
General Purpose
Combat Forces
Equipment
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short- and longer-term retraining both before and after discharge from the
Services.
Entrants to commissioned ranks receive initial training at the Britannia
Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, the
Royal Air Force College, Cranwell or similar institutions. This is followed by
specialist training, often including degree courses at university or Service
establishments.
Staff training is provided by the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, the
Army Staff College at Camberley, and the Royal Air Force Staff College at
Bracknell. The National Defence College at Latimer is designed to provide
mid-career officers with training for posts involving inter-Service staff work.
Specially selected and more senior officers from the Services, the Civil Service,
and from the Commonwealth, the United States, and allied European coun¬
tries attend the Royal College of Defence Studies (formerly the Imperial
Defence College) in London, which provides the wider background necessary
for senior posts in the direction of defence.
Considerable operational training is done through Joint-Service and inter¬
allied exercises. All three Services provide training facilities for the armed
forces of allied and Commonwealth countries.
Combat forces are functionally divided into the nuclear strategic force (costing
an estimated ^78 million in i97^_77)> Royal Navy general purpose combat
forces (£726 million), European theatre ground forces (£985 million), other
Army combat forces (£64 million) and Royal Air Force general purpose
forces (£906 million).
The British contribution to NATO’s strategic deterrent is provided by the
Royal Navy’s force of four Polaris nuclear submarines—Resolution, Repulse,
Renown and Revenge. Each has indefinite underwater cruising range and is
equipped with 16 Polaris missiles with a range of about 2,800 miles (4,506 km)
and carrying thermonuclear warheads.
The naval general purpose combat forces comprise amphibious and naval air
forces, submarines (excluding the Polaris force), helicopter-cruisers, des¬
troyers, frigates, mine counter-measures forces and support and other ships.
The aircraft carrier Ark Royal operates Phantom and Buccaneer strike aircraft,
Gannet airborne early warning aircraft and Sea King anti-submarine heli¬
copters. Amphibious forces are provided by the assault ships Fearless and.
Intrepid (only one of which is operational at any time), while the anti-submarine
warfare carrier Hermes has a secondary role as a commando ship. The com-
mand-helicopter-cruisers Blake and Tiger also carry Sea King helicopters and
are responsible for directing and controlling naval forces. There are also
seven County class guided missile destroyers equipped with Seaslug and Seacat
surface-to-air missile systems; four of them have also been fitted with the
Exocet surface-to-surface guided missile system. The Type 82 guided missile
destroyer Bristol is equipped with the Seadart area air defence missile system
and the Ikara anti-submarine guided weapon system. Sheffield, first of the
Type 42 Seadart destroyers, and four of the Amazon class Type 21 frigates
are in service, while another Type 42 destroyer will enter service in 1976. There
are also 26 Leander class and seven Tribal class general purpose frigates, two
anti-aircraft frigates, four aircraft-direction frigates, 15 anti-submarine
frigates, and the diesel frigate Mermaid. The frigate classes are variously
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