HMS Bristol

Before this, we know that Wilson, thinking out of the box, had looked at the possibility of using the power generated by nuclear submarines, divested of the missiles, to infuse the electrical grid with enough power to trump the hold of the Ballylumford strikers.

It was concluded in government papers released in 2005 that a Type 82 destroyer being utilised such as HMS Bristol could put power into the system, but that a further 354 megawatts would be needed.

But the real problem was, as Wilson reluctantly admitted, that although nuclear submarines could be plugged into the national grid in the Royal Dockyards in England and Scotland, in Northern Ireland there were no equivalent cables.

Essentially, there was no socket to plug them in.