HMS Vengeance (S31)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vengeance.
HMS Vengeance returning to HMNB Clyde in 2007
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Vengeance
Laid down: 1 February 1993[1]
Launched: 19 September 1998[1]
Commissioned: 27 November 1999[1]
In service: 12 February 2001[2]
Homeport: HMNB Clyde
Motto: Safe by my strength
Badge:
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Vanguard-class submarine
Displacement: 15,900 tonnes, submerged[3]
Length: 149.9 m (491 ft 10 in)
Beam: 12.8 m (42 ft 0 in)
Draught: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Propulsion:
Speed: In excess of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), submerged
Range: Only limited by food and maintenance requirements.
Complement: 135
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • Two SSE Mk10 launchers for Type 2066 and Type 2071 torpedo decoys
  • RESM Racal UAP passive intercept
Armament:

HMS Vengeance is the fourth and final Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy. Vengeance carries the Trident ballistic missile, the UK's nuclear deterrent.[4]

Vengeance was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions), was launched in September 1998, and commissioned in November 1999.

Before she was commissioned, the British Government stated that once the Vanguard submarines became fully operational, they would only carry 200 warheads.

Vengeance carries the unopened "last instructions" (letters of last resort) of the current British Prime Minister that are to be used in the event of a national catastrophe or a nuclear strike.[5]

Operational history

On 31 March 2011, while on a training exercise Vengeance suffered a blockage in her propulsor causing a reduction in propulsion. The boat returned to Faslane naval base on the surface under her own power. According to the MOD the problems were not nuclear related.[4][6]

In 2012, Vengeance started a 40 month refit at HMNB Devonport near Plymouth[7] while her sister ship Vigilant is taking her place.[8] She sailed from Devonport on 4 December 2015, her place in refit being taken by Vanguard.[9]

Affiliations

General characteristics

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jane's Fighting Ships, 2004-2005. Jane's Information Group Limited. p. 794. ISBN 0-7106-2623-1.
  2. ↑ "The Current British Arsenal". The Nuclear Weapon Archive - A Guide to Nuclear Weapons. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  3. ↑ Royal Navy Vanguard class submarine, royalnavy.mod.uk
  4. 1 2 "HMS Vengeance nuclear sub returns home after power loss". BBC News. 3 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Cabinets and the Bomb by Peter Hennnessy, published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press reviewed on BBC Radio 4, Start the Week
  6. ↑ http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/trident-sub-crippled-in-accident-1.1094250
  7. ↑ "HMS Vengeance: 350m sub refit 'to secure 2,000 jobs'". BBC. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  8. ↑ http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest-News/2012/March/01/120301-Farewell-Vengeance
  9. ↑ "Nuke sub HMS Vengeance leaves Devonport". Combat & Survival. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
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