HMS Repulse (S23)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Repulse |
| Builder: | Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Launched: | 4 November 1967 |
| Decommissioned: | 1996 |
| Badge: | .jpg) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Resolution-class ballistic missile submarine |
| Displacement: | surfaced 7,500 tons; submerged 8,400 tons. |
| Length: | 425 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Draught: | 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce PWR.1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp (20,500 kW); Propeller. |
| Speed: | surface - 20 kn (37 km/h); submerged - 25 kn (46 km/h) |
| Range: | Unlimited except by food supplies |
| Complement: | 143 (two crews) |
HMS Repulse (S23) was a Resolution-class ballistic missile submarine of the Royal Navy.
Launched on 4 November 1967, she was the last of her class remaining in service with the navy, decommissioning in 1996.
Repulse was the third Polaris Missile submarine of the Resolution class to be planned; HMS Renown was the second. Due to delays with Renown's build at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard, the Barrow-in-Furness Vickers built Repulse overtook Renown and was commissioned second of class. Repulse famously ran aground on launch, much to the delight of the CND protesters and was subsequently "blacked" by the shipyard unions. She survived all of these setbacks to become the longest-serving Polaris submarine.
A group called the "Committee of 100" were responsible for Repulse running aground.[citation needed] A group of about twelve protesters wedged themselves into the lock gates prior to launch. This action delayed the launch by some thirty minutes and caused the submarine to ground herself on the mudflats as there was insufficient clearance water in the sound. This fact was never reported by any national newspaper although early editions of a local Barrow paper did carry the story and even a photograph of the grounded submarine.[citation needed] Later editions of the same newspaper mysteriously made no mention of the event.
[edit] External links
- Peter Hitchens in the UK Daily Mail reminisces about a trip in HMS Repulse
- # Submariners Association Barrow-in-Furness Branch
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