page_title: Holy Loch
section_title: US Navy at Holy Loch
hierarchical_section_title: Holy Loch / History / Modern history / US Navy at Holy Loch
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Navy ballistic missile submarine undergoing repairs in floating drydock USS AFDB-7 at Holy Loch, Scotland, on 19 March 1963.
context_page_description: The Holy Loch is a sea loch, a part of the Cowal peninsula coast of the Firth of Clyde, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
  The "Holy Loch" name is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there after leaving Ireland. Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum is said to stand where Saint Munn's church was once located.
  Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  During World War II, the loch was used as a British Royal Navy submarine base. From 1961 to 1992, it was used as a United States Navy ballistic missile submarine base. In 1992, the Holy Loch base was deemed unnecessary following the demise of the Soviet Union and subsequently closed.
context_section_description: Between 1961 and 1992, Holy Loch was the site of the United States Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) Refit Site One. It was the home base of Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 14, part of Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. To make maximum usage of its submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) deterrent force, American military had determined that it required an overseas base for refit and crew turnover.  Negotiations with the British Government began as early as March 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower mentioned to the need to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at a meeting at Camp David.
  Holy Loch was one of several locations on or near the Firth of Clyde considered for the refit site. Others were Faslane, the channel between Largs and Cumbrae, Rosneath Bay, and Rothesay Bay. Site selection criteria included the requirements for a sheltered anchorage, relative proximity to an international airport, and sufficient shore facilities to provide housing for military personnel and their families. Agreement for the use of Holy Loch was reached near the end of 1960 and the arrival of the first tender, USS Proteus (AS-19) scheduled for December. Divisions within the British government and concerns about protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) caused her arrival to be rescheduled to 3 March 1961. Protests at the site followed.
  Between 1961 and 1982, the Naval Support Activity ashore was administered by US Naval Activities London. In 1982, Naval Support Activity (NAVSUPPACT), Forward Base, Holy Loch, Scotland became its own command. NAVSUPPACT ultimately managed 42 facilities and leased 342 housing units for Navy personnel and their dependents.
  A monument  was built to the American Navvies years' at the Holy Loch, Site One.  The monument is located in the Castle Gardens, Dunoon.
  Over the years, five different submarine tenders and one floating dry dock served in the loch.
  Two notable incidents occurred during the three-decade long deployment of SUBRON 14 at Holy Loch. On November 1970, a fire erupted on USS Canopus, killing three of her complement. Almost four years later, on 3 November 1974, the nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS James Madison (SSBN-627) collided with a Soviet submarine, assumed to be a Victor-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, during a dive just after departing from Holy Loch. The American submarine was dented and suffered a nine-foot scratch on her hull. She spent a full week at the base for inspection and repairs.
  Laurel Clark, known to her shipmates as "Doc Salton", was assigned as the Radiation Health Officer and Undersea Medical Officer at SUBRON 14. Clark was one of the astronauts who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February 2003.
  New technologies and the end of the cold war led to the base being deemed unnecessary. The last submarine tender to be based there, the USS Simon Lake (AS-33), left Holy Loch in November 1991, ahead of the base closing the following June.
caption: USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602) in USS Los Alamos (AFDB-7)
exif: {}