home

fighting ships of the world

ROYAL NAVY - UNITED KINGDOM

SUBMARINES

VALIANT nuclear attack submarines (1966 - 1971)

Valiant 1977

Valiant 1979

Valiant 1990

Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Valiant (ex-Inflexible) S102   Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow 22.1.1962 3.12.1963 18.7.1966 for disposal 6.1994
Warspite S103   Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow 10.12.1963 25.9.1965 18.4.1967 for disposal 6.1991
Churchill S46   Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow 30.6.1967 20.12.1968 15.7.1970 for disposal 2.1991
Conqueror S48   Cammell Laird, Birkenhead 5.12.1967 28.8.1969 9.11.1971 for disposal 9.1990
Courageous (ex-Superb) S50   Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow 15.6.1968 7.3.1970 16.10.1971 for disposal 4.1992

Displacement standard, t

3000

Displacement normal, t

3500 / 4000

Length, m

86.9 pp 96.0 oa

Breadth, m

10.1

Draught, m

8.20

No of shafts

1

Machinery

2 sets English Electric geared steam turbines, Rolls-Royce PWR1 nuclear reactor

Power, h. p.

15000

Max speed, kts

20 / 28

Fuel, t

nuclear

Endurance, nm(kts)

practically unlimited

Armament

6 - 533 TT (bow, 26)

Electronic equipment

type 1003 radar, type 2001, type 2007, type 2019 sonars, UAA ECM suite, DCA/DCB CCS

Complement

103

Diving depth operational, m

230

Project history: This class was a slightly enlarged edition of the Dreadnought to accommodate the bulkier British reactor developed at the Admiralty Reactor Test Establishment at Dounreay. The completion of Valiant was delayed by a year became of the priority given to die Polaris programme. As in the Dreadnought, conventional Laurence-Scott electric motors and a 112-cell battery provided emergency power, with a Paxman diesel generator. All TT were forward, and Mk 24 torpedoes have replaced the earlier Mks 8 and 23.

Modernizations: 1980, Valiant; 1981, Warspite; 1983, Churchill; 1984-1985, Conqueror, Courageous: - type 2001 sonar, UAA ECM suite; + Sub-Harpoon SSM (normally 4 UGM-84B instead of part of torpedoes), type 2020, type 2024 sonars, UAL ECM suite, DCA/DCB CCS

Naval service: Conqueror became the unique nuclear-powered submarine really attacked enemy ship. 2.5.1982 she sunk the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano using two WW-II era Mk 8 torpedoes.

Valiant 1980

 

© Ivan Gogin, 2015