23 Retired #Nuclear Subs, Zero Scrapped: Britain’s Radioactive Naval Backlog Britain has 23 retired nuclear submarines in storage and has never fully dismantled a single one. The oldest, HMS Dreadnought, left service in 1980. Forty-six years later, it still sits afloat at Rosyth—a monument to a nuclear navy that planned how to launch submarines, but not how to finish their life cycle. Seven retired boats are stored at Rosyth and 16 at Devonport. All seven in Scotland have been defueled