into a war by the UK. He wanted to bring the UK into a dual-key arrangement. McNamara first broached the idea of cancelling Skybolt with the British in November 1962. When this was reported in the House of Commons, a storm of protest broke out. A meeting was arranged to settle the issue, and Macmillan stated in no uncertain terms that the UK would be retaining their independent deterrent capability, no matter what the cost. With development of their Polaris-derived warheads well along, a suitable launch platform would be developed, if need be. Faced with a clear failure in policy terms, Kennedy gave up on the idea of strong-arming Britain into accepting a dual-key arrangement. By the end of the series of meetings, the UK had gained the much more impressive Polaris system, and would start development of a new submarine to launch it. The SSBNs would then take over the nuclear deterrent role from the RAF's V bombers from 1968 onwards. Construction Two pairs of the boats were ordered in May 1963 from Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow in Furness and from Cammell Laird and Co. Ltd, Birkenhead. The option of buying a fifth unit, planned as , was cancelled in February 1965 as a cost-savings measure by the government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Traditional battleship names were used, signifying that they were the capital ships of their time. Vickers Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness constructed Resolution and Repulse and Cammell Laird in Birkenhead constructed Renown and Revenge. The construction was unusual in that the bow and stern were constructed separately before being assembled together with the American-designed missile compartment. The design was a modification of the fleet submarine, but greatly extended to incorporate the missile compartment between the fin and the nuclear reactor. The length was , breadth , height and the displacement submerged and surfaced. A Rolls-Royce pressurised water reactor (PWR1) and English Electric Company turbines gave them a speed of and they could dive to depths of . Sixteen Polaris A3 missiles were carried, in two rows of eight. For emergencies there was a diesel generator and six torpedo tubes located at the bow, firing the Tigerfish wire-guided homing torpedoes. The submarines put to sea with a crew of 143. According to former head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors R.J. Daniel, the Resolution-class SSBNs possessed five features that were envied by the United States Navy: the