Westminster Abbey recently held a commemorative service to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Royal Navy submariners' continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, carrying the Trident nuclear missile system. "For the past 50 years," noted Reverend John Hall, the dean of Westminster, "Royal Navy submariners have patrolled the oceans and seas of our world, sometimes for many months at a time, burdened with a force able to engender a greater destructive power than has ever been seen on earth."
He continued, "We give thanks for all the thousands of people who have designed, built, supported, and crewed the submarines during these past 50 years and for their families, and we continue to pray for the life and work of the Royal Navy, in particular for its submarine service."
Some find this a rather bizarre point of focus for a thanksgiving service. Reverend Roger Morris, an Anglican anti-nuclear activist, is among them: "The original press release from the Royal Navy spoke of celebrating the ingenuity and skill of those who designed and built the nuclear deterrent… That is something that I cannot condone in a place of worship."
