Resolution class submarine
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_.jpg/250px-HMS_Renown_(Resolution-class_submarine)_.jpg) Resolution class, HMS Renown |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Vickers Shipbuilding ltd, Barrow in Furness Cammerl Laird and Co ltd, Birkenhead. |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | none |
| Succeeded by: | Vanguard class submarine |
| In service: | 1966 - 1996 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Retired: | Resolution Repulse Renown Revenge |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | surfaced: 7,500 long tons (7,600 t); submerged: 8,400 long tons (8,500 t) |
| Length: | 425 ft (129.5 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
| Draught: | 30 ft 1 in (9.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce PWR.1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp (20.5 MW); Propeller. |
| Speed: | surfaced: 20 kn (37 km/h); submerged: 25 kn (46 km/h) |
| Range: | Unlimited except by food supplies |
| Complement: | 143 (two crews) |
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Great Britain's only nuclear deterrent was through the RAF's V-bombers. But developments in radar and surface-to-air weaponry made it clear that bombers were becoming vulnerable. In January 1963, the Defence Committee decided that the nation's nuclear deterrent should be carried by submarines. In February of the same year, the government announced that it was to order four Resolution-class submarines with nuclear power plants and be armed with the polaris missile. The SSBNs would then take over the nuclear deterrent role from the RAF's V-bombers from 1968 onwards.
The first two pair of the boats were ordered in May 1963 from Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow in Furness and Cammell Laird and Co. Ltd, Birkenhead. The option of buying a fifth unit was cancelled in February 1965.
Four boats were completed; a fifth boat, planned as Ramillies, was cancelled before construction began. Traditional battleship names were used, signifying that they were the capital ships of the 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 Valiant Class Fleet Submarine, but greatly extended to incorporate the missile compartment between the fin and the nuclear reactor. The length was 130 metres, breadth 10.1 metres, height 9 metres and the displacement 8,400 long tons (8,500 t) submerged and 7,600 long tons (7,700 t) surfaced. A Rolls-Royce pressurised water reactor and English Electric Company turbines gave them a speed of 25 knots (46 km/h) and they could dive to depths of 275 metres (900 ft). Sixteen Polaris A3 missiles were carried, in two rows of eight. For emergencies there was a diesel generator and six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes located at the bow, firing the Tigerfish wire-guided homing torpedoes. The submarines put to sea with a crew of 143.
The first to be completed was HMS Resolution, laid down in February 1964 and launched in September 1966. After commissioning in 1967 she underwent a long period of sea trials culminating in the test firing of a Polaris missile. Fired from the USAF Eastern Test Range off Cape Kennedy at 11:15 on February 15, 1968. Resolution commenced her first operational patrol on June 15, 1968, beginning 28 years of Polaris patrols. The class were part of the 10th Submarine Squadron, all based at Faslane Naval Base, Scotland.
All four of the class underwent conversion during the 1980s so that they could be fitted with the polaris A-TK missile which was fitted with the British developed Chevaline MRV warhead.
As the newer Vanguard class submarines entered service, the resolution class was eventually retired and all boats laid up at Rosyth dockyard with their reactors removed.
[edit] Fictional submarines
- In the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, the fictional Polaris submarine HMS Ranger is hijacked by the film's main villain.
- The 1987 book Skydancer by Geoffrey Archer features a fictional British Polaris submarine, HMS Retribution.
- The 1971 book The Fighting Temeraire by John Winton features a fictional British Polaris submarine, HMS Temeraire which is used on a spying mission in the Black Sea.
[edit] References
- The Encyclopedia Of Warships, From World War Two To The Present Day, General Editor Robert Jackson.
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