Swiftsure class submarine
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HMS Sceptre |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Churchill-class |
| Succeeded by: | Trafalgar-class |
| In commission: | 17 April 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 4,400 tons standard; 4,900 tons submerged |
| Length: | 82.9 m |
| Beam: | 9.8 m |
| Draught: | 8.5 m |
| Speed: | In excess of 28 knots when dived |
| Range: | Unlimited (nuclear) |
| Complement: | 116 officers and men |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
bow, flank, active intercept, and towed array sonar |
| Armament: | 5 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes, Spearfish torpedoes, RN Sub Harpoon missiles, Tomahawk missiles |
The Royal Navy's Swiftsure-class of nuclear fleet submarines (SSN) is the older of the two classes of attack submarine in service with the RN.
Six boats were built and commissioned. HMS Swiftsure was decommissioned in 1992 due to damage suffered to her pressure hull during trials. HMS Splendid followed in 2004 after defence cuts caused a reduction in the size of the RN SSN fleet. HMS Spartan was decommissioned in January 2006, with HMS Sovereign following on 12 September 2006. HMS Superb was decommissioned on 26 September 2008. The remaining boat in the class, HMS Sceptre, is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2010.[1] They are being replaced by the Astute-class submarine.
A few can now fire Tomahawk missiles in addition to their original armaments of torpedoes, mines and anti-ship missiles.
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[edit] Design
The Dreadnought, Valiant and Improved-Valiant classes all had a "whale-shaped hull", of "near-perfect streamlining giving maximum underwater efficiency". The hulls were of British design, "based on the pioneering work of the US Navy in Skipjack and Albacore."[2] The hull of the Swiftsure was a different shape and maintained its diameter for a much greater length than previous classes.[3] Compared with the Valiants the Swiftsures were 13 feet[4] "shorter with a fuller form, with the fore-planes set further forward, with one less torpedo tube and with a deeper diving depth."[3]
A second major change was in propulsion. Rather than the seven/nine-bladed propeller used by the previous classes, all but the first of the Swiftsure class submarines used a shrouded pump-jet propulsor.[4] The prototype propulsor had powered the Churchill.[5] It is not clear why the Swiftsure was the only one of the class not fitted with a propulsor.[4] The propulsor was perhaps as much as 50% more efficient than a propeller, producing the same speed at lower revolutions, thus reducing the noise signature. In addition all pipework connections to equipment on the main machinery raft had expansion/flexible coupling connections, which also reduced noise. The US Navy secured a licence to copy the main shaft flexible coupling arrangement in US-built submarines.[4]
[edit] Incidents
On 28 May 2008, HMS Superb of the Swiftsure class collided with a rock while submerged in the Red Sea. No injuries, or reactor damage resulted, yet the submarine had to surface and remain surfaced due to damage to the sonar equipment.
[edit] In fiction
HMS Sceptre acts as nom de guerre for the Red October in Tom Clancy's eponymous novel, as she enters the Norfolk Naval Station.
[edit] General characteristics
- Builder: Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd
- Displacement: 4400 tons standard; 4900 tons submerged
- Length: 83 m
- Beam: 9.8 m
- Draught: 8.5 m
- Complement: 13 officers, 103 ratings
- Armament: 5 tubes capable of firing:
- Spearfish torpedoes
- Tigerfish torpedoes
- RN Sub Harpoon missiles
- Tomahawk missiles (selected submarines only)
- Sensors:
- sonar (bow, flank, active intercept, and towed array sonar)
- periscopes (attack and search)
- collision avoidance radar
[edit] Construction programme
| Pennant number | Name | (a) Hull builder | Ordered | Laid down | Launched | Accepted into service |
Commissioned | Estimated building cost[6] |
Decommissioned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S126 | Swiftsure | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 3 November 1967 [3] | 6 June 1969 [7] | 7 September 1971 [7] | 17 April 1973 [7] | £37,100,000 [3] | 1992 | |
| S108 | Sovereign | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 16 May 1969 [3] | 18 September 1970 [7] | 17 February 1973 [7] | 22 July 1974 [8] | 11 July 1974 [7] | £31,100,000 [8] | 12 September 2006 |
| S109 | Superb | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 20 May 1970 [3] | 16 March 1972 [7] | 30 November 1974 [7] | 29 November 1976 [8] | 13 November 1976 [7] | £41,300,000 [8] | 26 September 2008 |
| S104 | Sceptre | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 1 November 1971 [3] | 19 February 1974 [7] | 20 November 1976 [7] | 11 March 1978 [8] | 14 February 1978 [7] | £58,900,000 [8] | expected 2010 |
| S105 | Spartan | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 7 February 1973 [3][9] | 26 April 1976 [7] | 7 April 1978 [7] | 10 October 1979 [8] | 22 September 1979 [7] | £68,900,000 [8] | January 2006 |
| S106 | Splendid (ex-Severn)[7] | VSEL, Barrow.[7] | 26 May 1976 [3][10] | 23 November 1977 [7] | 5 October 1979 [7] | 5 May 1981 [8] | 21 March 1981 [7] | £97,000,000 [8] | 2004 |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Hansard
- ^ Blackman, Raymond VB, Jane's Fighting Ships, 1966-67, pub Sampson Low Marston & Co Ltd, 1966, page 279.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Moore, John, Janes Fighting Ships 1982-83, pub Jane's Publishing, 1982, ISBN 0-7106-0742-3 page 546, which quotes building costs for Swiftsure, Superb, Sceptre, and Splendid. The costs quoted for Superb, Sceptre, and Splendid are identical to those from Hansard.
- ^ a b c d Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines, pub Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-2781-4 pages 181-4.
- ^ Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines, pub Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-2781-4 page 180.
- ^ "Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)." Text from Defences Estimates
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85177-605-1 page 531.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hansard HC Deb 23 October 1989 vol 158 cc357-8W Question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking him to list the Royal Navy vessels built in each of the past 15 years, showing the cost of each and the yards in which they were constructed, 23 October 1983. The second part of this may be found at Hansard HC Deb 23 October 1989 vol 158 cc358-61W.
- ^ Hansard HC Deb 24 November 1977 vol 939 cc869-70W Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about contracts, 24 November 1977.
For the fifth Swiftsure class fleet submarine (HMS Spartan) the planned order date when tender invited was September 1972. The contract was placed in February 1973. - ^ Hansard HC Deb 15 November 1976 vol 919 c363W Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about shipbuilding contracts, 15 November 1976.
For the sixth Swiftsure class fleet submarine, the planned order date when tender invited was late 1974. The contract was placed in May 1976.
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