Dreadnought, Valiant and Churchill Class Nuclear Powered Fleet Submarines

"We are calling this ship Dreadnought because it is opening a new epoch just as was the old Dreadnought, built fifty years ago"

-Earl of Selkirk, First Lord of the Admiralty, July 1959.

The introduction of nuclear powered submarines marked a huge leap forward in submarine warfare for the Royal Navy. Dreadnought, the Royal Navy’s first nuclear powered submarine, entered service in 1963, followed by two improved units - Valiant in 1966 and Warspite in 1967 - and eventually by Churchill, Conqueror and Courageous. The nuclear propulsion allowed these submarines to succeed where earlier boats had failed, as true fleet submarines fast enough to protect a convoy or task force and scout ahead of the main fleet. Their ability to remain submerged without having to surface for air gave them an immediate advantage over smaller conventional submarines and the mere presence of these submarines could be enough to deter aggression.

Dreadnought

Research into the possibility of developing nuclear powered submarines began in Britain at the end of the Second World War. However, it was the Americans who took the lead, launching the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, in 1954. A year later she famously broadcast the message "underway on nuclear power" and a new era had begun. In order to keep up with the pace of technology, the Royal Navy were eager to develop atomic powered submarines of their own. In 1954 a naval section was set up at the Atomic Research Station at Harwell and in 1958 a land based prototype of a submarine reactor was constructed at Dounreay in Scotland. However the development of a British nuclear reactor was taking some time and in order to keep to budget and to schedule an agreement was reached in 1958 with the United States whereby a reactor based on the US ‘Skipjack’ design, was built by Westinghouse in America and incorporated into a British designed bow. This agreement between the UK and USA was largely made possible thanks to the close relationship between Lord Mountbatten of Burma (First Sea Lord between 1955 and 1959) and Admiral Hyman Rickover, mastermind of the US nuclear submarine project. American expertise and experience was leant also leant to Vickers and Dreadnought was completed earlier than expected. In the meantime the Explorer Class Experimental Submarines were used to develop procedures and drills for Dreadnought and conducted research into travelling at high underwater speeds, while the Depot Ship Maidstone was extensively updated and modernised in order to support nuclear powered vessels.

Dreadnought’s hull was based on that the streamlined teardrop design of the USS Albacore, although her hydroplanes were positioned at the bow rather than on the fin. The design emphasised speed to a greater extent than quietness: she had a distinctive whale shaped casing and a fin shaped conning tower, both of which helped to reduce drag. Measuring 80.8 metres in length and 9.7 metres in beam, she displaced 3,000 tons, which is small by comparison to later nuclear submarines. With a complement of 113 officers and men, greater emphasis was placed on crew comfort than with other submarines particularly because of the long periods of time which would be spent submerged. Dreadnought's principle role would be to detect and destroy enemy submarines (hence the term "hunter-killer") and she was fitted with six forward torpedo tubes.

The keel of Dreadnought was laid at Vickers’s Barrow-in-Furness yard on the 12th June 1959 by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh and she was launched by HM the Queen on Trafalgar Day (October 21st) 1960. Dreadnought embarked on a series of extensive sea trials which included her first dive on January 10th 1963 at Ramsden Dock. She was finally completed on 17th April 1963. On June 24th 1967 Dreadnought was ordered to sink the wreck of Essberger Chemist. Despite firing three torpedoes, it only sank after the Type 61 Frigate Salisbury opened fire. In 1967 Dreadnought sailed from Rosyth to Singapore and back again, travelling 4,640 miles surfaced and 2654 miles submerged. She entered a refit at Rosyth Dockyard in 1967 which included a nuclear refuel and recommissioned on September 10th 1970. The following year she became the first British submarine to surface at the North Pole. Under the command of Cdr Alan Kennedy she traveled 1,500 miles under the ice before breaking through the surface on March 3rd 1971. Between 1974 and 1976 she underwent a second refit which included another refuel. In 1977 she attended the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead. In November 1977 Dreadnought was deployed to the Falkland Islands as part of a secret taskforce which included the frigates Alacrity and Phoebe and the auxiliaries Resource and Olwen. The mission- codenamed Operation Journeyman - was designed to deter Argentine aggression and prevent a feared invasion of the South Atlantic Islands. To this day there remains some debate and speculation as to weather Dreadnought was given orders to expose herself to the nearest Argentine vessel or whether he her presence was leaked in Buenos Aires by British intelligence.

Compared with newer submarines, Dreadnought was smaller and noisier and towards the end of the 1970s she began to suffer from a number of technical problems and was withdrawn from service under the 1981 Defence Review. Although laid up at Chatham in 1982, the closure of this base prompted her relocation to Rosyth. She was towed to the Scottish Dockyard on 13th April 1983 and remains there today.

Above: HMS Dreadnought (S101).

Valiant Class

HMS Valiant and her sister ship Warspite used reactors based on the prototype developed at Dounray in Scotland by Rolls-Royce and the Atomic Energy Authority, and hence were the first truly British nuclear submarines. Unlike Dreadnought greater attention was paid to noise reduction rather than speed and an emergency diesel electric drive was fitted for silent running. Measuring 86.8 metres in length and 10.1 metres in breadth they displaced 4,300 tons surfaced and 4,800 tones submerged, making them larger than Dreadnought. That together with a fractionally larger crew - 116 - were the only major differences in terms of specification.

Valiant was ordered on 31st August 1960 and laid down in June 1959. Launched by Lady Thornycroft on December 3rd 1963 her construction cost £25 million. Commissioning on July 18th 1966, Valiant joined the Third Submarine Squadron at Faslane. In April 1967 she completed a 28 day journey from the UK to Singapore. The duration of the journey- 12,000 miles - was spent submerged, which was then a record for a British submarine. Valiant entered a refit at Chatham Dockyard in 1970 and upon recommissioning on May 12th 1972 she became the first submarine of a new Squadron based at Devonport. In 1977 she attended the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review off Spithead and later in the same year she began a second refit at Chatham, which included a refuel. Valiant recommissioned into the third Submarine Squadron in 1980. In 1982 she participated in the Falklands Conflict. In 1989 Valiant emerged from a third refit, this time at Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland. Valiant remained in service longer than any of the early nuclear boats and in her career traveled an impressive 576,754 nautical miles, spending 53,840 hours at sea. However, in June 1994 Valiant developed engine problems whilst returning from a trip to the USA and was paid off August 12th 1994. Laid up at Devonport Valiant has been open to the public a number of times at Navy Days and Dockyard Fayres. Once her reactor core is removed she will be raised out of the water and put on permanent public display.

Warspite was launched by Mrs Wilson, wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. She paid off at a joint ceremony with Conqueror at Devonport in 1991 and has remained at Devonport.

Above: HMS Valiant (S102) surfaced in heavy seas.

Churchill Class

Work on further units of the Valiant Class was suspended as emphasis switched to the production of Resolution Class ballistic missile submarines. However as the polaris project neared completion, three new nuclear powered submarines were laid down - Churchill and Courageous at Vickers and Conqueror at Cammal Laird.

Appropriately Churchill is one of the few warships to have been named during the lifetime of her namesake. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill had insisted that submarines be named rather than numbered, as a mark of respect to those who last their lives in the silent service. Churchill had the distinction of being the last nuclear submarine to be refitted at Chatham Dockyard. She decommissioned on February 28th 1991 and is laid up at Rosyth.

Courageous served in the Falklands Conflict under the command of Rupert Best. She was the first RN sub fitted with sub-harpoon. She paid off on April 10th 1992.

Conqueror was the only fleet submarine to be built by a company other than Vickers and was one the most distinguished warships of recent years, being the only nuclear submarine to sink enemy warship, and the first to fire in anger. Under the command of Christopher Wreford-Brown (who was later awarded the DSO) Conqueror spotted the Argentine Cruiser General Belgrano. The war cabinet approved the sinking and on May 2nd 1982 Conqueror fired three torpedoes (Mk 8 torpedoes, rather than the less reliable but newer Mk 24 Tigerfish) two of which hit the Belgrano, and the third reportedly hit her escorting destroyer Hippolite Bouchard without effect. Bouchard and her sistership Piedra Bueno attempted to depth charge Conqueror as she withdrew. 321 members of Belgrano’s crew were lost, making her destruction the biggest loss of the war. During the conflict Belgrano carried out a 90 day patrol, the longest ever by a Royal Navy submarine. Conqueror was fitted with sub-harpoon in 1985. She collided with a yacht in July 1988 off the Mull of Kintyre. Paid off together with Warspite in a joint ceremony at Devonport in 2 August 1990. After decommissioning her reactor core was removed, her hatches sealed and her inside gutted.

Above: H.MS Conqueror (S48) surfaces. Note the hydroplanes positioned on the bow, unlike on American submarines where they are either side of the conning tower.

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© Written and researched by Jeremy Olver. First uploaded 21st October 2000. Updated 10th November 2000. Disclaimer.