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ABOVE: Workers prepare Arthur Millerâs artwork for shipment to a U.S. Embassy in Africa. RIGHT: Miller shows one of his works selected for display in the official residence of Sandra E. Clark, the U.S. ambassador to Burkina Fasou in West Africa.
Submitted photo
Submitted photo
Holy Loch is not just a footnote from history
This month is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the US nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch on the Clyde. The event was not without controversy. While it brought prosperity to the Dunoon area it was also the focus of protest until it was closed and the submarines sailed away.
The base was established as a NATO operation to maintain a ‘nuclear deterrent’ to the Warsaw Pact. It complemented the nearby Royal Naval nuclear base and both attracted the presence of Soviet Navy (and Warsaw Pact) vessels to counter them.
60 years on: The day the US Navy came armed with nuclear missiles https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19140712.60-years-day-us-navy-came-armed-nuclear-missiles/ By Sandra Dick 7 Mar 21, THE sun shone brightly over the calm Holy Loch on a beautiful early March day in 1961, as USS Proteus - 18,000 tons of American might - glided towards her foe. By late afternoon, she was passing…
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BBC News
By Craig Williams
image captionUSS Proteus at anchor in the Holy Loch in 1961
Dunoon was no stranger to submarines and their crews by the time the first Americans arrived there in March 1961 but establishing a US base in Scotland was still a controversial move.
The Argyll town sits at the mouth of the Holy Loch on the east side of the Cowal peninsula. The loch opens straight out into the Clyde and a combination of deep waters, natural shelter, and easy access to the open sea, had already ensured it was a strategically important spot when war broke out in 1939.