Yes, it's true; the DND white paper from 1987 advised the procurement of 10-12 nuclear attack submarines. I'm not certain about where the subs would come from - in one book I read that the government was even in talks to purchase retired American SSNs, who knows.
Anyway I don't believe we are totally sunk without SSNs to patrol under ice. Other states have been patrolling under ice for decades and they are not really much closer to claiming the region. It took that Russian breaker expedition before some heads were seriously turned. The present plan of reservist-crewed patrol boats is at least a good step towards having a continuous presence and especially a visible one - something a submarine is not very good at.
I guess we'll see.
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