Upholder Class Overseas Patrol Submarines

It was originally intended that the last conventional submarines to serve in the Royal Navy would be the Oberon Class. After all, nuclear submarines were bigger and faster with a far greater endurance. However conventional submarines still had a role in the post war era: being smaller and quieter they were more suited to work in coastal or shallow waters as required for 'cloak and dagger' operations. During the Falklands conflict HMS Onyx demonstrated this role, landing SBS (Special Boat Service) personnel ashore. Furthermore, British nuclear fleet submarines (SSNs) were produced slowly and at great cost and therefore in small numbers: by the 1980s Vickers at Barrow was the only yard with sufficient nuclear construction expertise but with the Vanguard Class Trident submarines taking top priority there could be a gap of 18 years in Fleet Submarine production. So the navy reevaluated its decision and design work on a new class of conventional submarine began in the late 1970s. As replacements for the Oberon and Porpoise Classes, they would supplement nuclear submarines by patrolling the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap against Soviet Submarines from the Northern Fleet, releasing nuclear submarines for more pressing tasks.

Barrow based shipbuilders Vickers had privately designed a conventional submarine - dubbed Type 2400 (as they had a submerged displacement of 2,400 tonnes) - in the hope of selling it to foreign navies. This design was used as the basis for the Upholder Class. The 1981 Defence Review stated "We will proceed as fast as possible with a new and more effective class to replace our aging diesel-powered submarines". The lead yard, Vickers, was awarded the contract for the nameship- Upholder- on 2nd November 1983. Orders for the second, third and fourth units were placed in January 1986 with Birkenhead based shipbuilders Cammal Laird. It was originally envisaged that with a building rate of one per year the Upholder Class could consist of as many as 19 boats, with later vessels forming an improved second and third batch. It was suggested that from the fifth boat onwards they would displace 3,000 tonnes, have more powerful engines and a greater endurance. It was also hoped like the Oberon Class, the Type 2400 could be successfully marketed overseas. However only the first four - Upholder, Unseen, Ursula and Unicorn- were ordered and constructed

When designing the Upholder Class Vickers included many innovations and improvements taken from the Trafalgar Class SSNs as well as the Oberon Class. The Upholder Class were the first conventionally powered submarines to be built with a 'teardrop' hull. Previous diesel submarines had resembled the German Type XXI design but the Upholders shared a greater resemblance to the streamlined, hydrodynamic hull first modeled by the USS Albacore. Further resemblances to nuclear submarines included anechoic (noise reducing) tiles on the hull which muffle internal noise and reduce sonar returns, while the fin was constructed from glass fibre in order to be as lightweight as possible. So sophisticated was the design of these boats that they have often been described as being the equivalent to a nuclear submarine, only without the reactor. Displacing 2,400 tons when submerged and 2168 tons when surfaced the Upholders measured 70.25 metres in length, 7.6 metres in draught with a beam of five metres. The large battery capacity of the diesel electric drive gave a speed of 20 knots dived and 12 knots surfaced and they were capable of diving to depths of 200 metres. Two decks thick, they were larger in size than the Oberon Class but had a smaller complement - 46 (including seven officers) - with far superior living conditions. The six bow torpedo tubes were capable of firing Sub Harpoon missiles, Tigerfish and Spearfish torpedoes, or if necessary launching mines.

Upon entering service it was learnt that there were serious defects with the Weapons Handling and Discharge System (WHDS) - in short they couldn't fire torpedoes. When Upholder docked at Devonport in 1992 and Ursula and Unseen the following year £9 million was spent on repairs necessary to rectify the problem . Unicorn was still under construction so was completed with the modifications in place. During their short service in the Royal Navy, the Upholder Class became the last submarines to be based at HMS Dolphin Gosport as part of the 1st Submarine Squadron. They were to be based there permanently but it was deemed uneconomical to keep the base operating for just four submarines, so they were transferred to Devonport.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War had far reaching consequences for the Royal Navy. There was no longer the need for the existing level of anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic or the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap. As part of the defence cuts in 1993 the Navy faced a choice of either retaining the four Upholder Class Patrol submarines and loosing two attack submarines or axing the Upholders and saving the nuclear submarines. The latter option was chosen and all four submarines- Upholder, Ursula, Unseen and Unicorn- were decommissioned at Devonport and later mothballed at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The British government was understandably keen to sell these submarines, most likely customer being either South Africa or Canada although representatives from Portugal and Greece also visited the submarines. Various sources suggested that the government wished to sell to South Africa in order encourage them to award an order for four corvette patrol craft to Yarrow Shipbuilders of Southampton, instead of the Barzan Shipyard in Spain. But in 1997 they were still unsold and some experts believed the New Labour Government would eventually be forced to recommission them or even scrap them.

However on April 6th 1998 the Canadian government’s defence minister, Art Eggleton, announced the lease of the four Upholders in order to replace Canada's three British Built Oberon submarines (Ojibwa, Onondaga, Okanagan). Canada justified the deal saying she had coastline of three oceans to patrol as well as NATO commitments, fishery protection and anti drugs operations. As part of the £226 million ($750 Canadian) deal the four boats would be refitted at VSEL, Barrow and the Canadian crew would be trained at HMS Collingwood, Sultan and the former HMS Dolphin. In return the British armed forces would be able to use Canada’s army and air force training facilities free of charge. It soon became clear that the boats would not retain their British names and various rumours suggested they would be given traditional Canadian tribal names such as Cayuga and Nootka or names once used by Canada’s aircraft carriers- Bonaventure, Magnificent, Warrior and Puncher, or even names that continued the ‘U’ theme of the Upholders such as Uganda and Ugava. Eventually it was decided the Upholder class would become the Victoria class with each boat bearing the name of a Canadian port- Chicoutimic, Victoria, Cornerbrook and Windsor.

In 1999 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) placed a contract with Marconi Marine (the then owners of Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering) for the reactivation of the four boats. HMS Unseen was the first submarine to be brought out of mothballs. She was taken out of the water and moved into the massive Devonshire Dock Hall for six months of reactivation work. This included replacing some hydraulic system components and installing new batteries. Early reports suggested reactivation has not been as straight forward as originally envisaged, and the initial cost of the programme had consequently escalated. Nevertheless, on October 6th 2000 Unseen was handed over to Canada and renamed Victoria in a ceremony conducted at Barrow by .Mrs. Jill Garnett, wife of Vice-Admiral Gary Garnett, Vice-Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff. Lt. Ken Marr, Victoria's chief executive officer, said "It is a new chapter in the life of the submarine service...We spent so many decades operating the Oberon class submarines – which was a fantastic submarine, but its time had come and gone". Unseen will be followed by Unicorn, Ursula and finally Upholder at six monthly intervals.

Since loosing the Upholders, the Royal Navy now operates an entirely nuclear powered submarine force. As a consequence Dutch, German and Spanish conventional submarines have been hired to participate in surface ship training exercises for Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST)

Class Details:

Above: All four Upholders at sea. Upholder (S40), Unseen (S41), Ursula (S42) and Unicorn (S43)

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