HMS Resolution in 1977
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Resolution
OrderedMay 1963
BuilderVickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down26 February 1964
Launched15 September 1966
Commissioned2 October 1967
Decommissioned22 October 1994
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeResolution-class ballistic missile submarine
Displacementsurfaced 7,500 tons; submerged 8,400 tons.
Length425 ft (130 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draught30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Propulsion1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce PWR.1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp (20,500 kW); Propeller.
Speed
  • surface: 20 kn (37 km/h)
  • submerged: 25 kn (46 km/h)
RangeUnlimited except by food supplies
Complement143 (two crews)

HMS Resolution (S22) was the first of the Royal Navy's Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines.[1] She operated from 1968 until 1994 providing the UK Polaris at sea nuclear deterrent.[1]

Construction

The submarine was ordered on 21 May 1963 with Vickers Armstrong at a cost of £40.2m.[2]

The keel was laid down at Barrow-in-Furness on 26 February 1964 by the Director General Ships, Sir Alfred Sims.[3]

She was launched was on 15 September 1966, attended by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.[4] After fitting out, she proceeded to sea on 22 June 1967.[4] The submarine was commissioned on 2 October 1967, and following extensive trials, including the firing of her first Polaris missile on 15 February 1968, commenced her first patrol on 14 June 1968.[5] To ensure continuous operation, she was the first Royal Navy submarine to operate with two dedicated crews, who would relieve each other, known as port and starboard respectively.[4]

Service

The ship was assigned to the 10th Submarine Squadron (United Kingdom) where it operated as the first of the UKs new Polaris based nuclear deterrent.[2]

Her Polaris system was updated in 1984 with the Chevaline IFE (Improved Front End) that included two new warheads and re-entry bodies and penaids, super-hardened to resist ABM attack, replacing the original three ET.317 warheads.

Resolution conducted the longest patrol of any Polaris submarine being at sea for 108 days in 1991.[6]

Alleged use during the Falklands War

During the early stages of the Falklands War, the BBC World News reported that Resolution was stationed off Buenos Aires. A similar story appeared in 1984 in the New Statesman which alleged that Resolution was sent south, as a means of launching a nuclear attack against Córdoba in the event that a Royal Navy aircraft carrier be sunk.[7]

A cutaway model of HMS Resolution

In reality, Resolution's crew were having to deal with an upsurge of Soviet SSN activity, with Resolution having to take evasive action to avoid a November-class submarine. Despite Soviet efforts, Resolution was never found during her 72-day patrol.[7]

Decommission

Following the completion of the first Trident-carrying Vanguard-class submarine in 1992, the Resolution class were gradually removed from service. Resolution was decommissioned on 22 October 1994,[6] after 69 patrols, and laid up at the Rosyth Dockyard.[6] She remains in the main basin at Rosyth, intact but with her reactor defuelled; the MOD has yet to finalise plans for removal of the radioactive reactor parts and the scrapping of the boat.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 David Ross; Chris Bishop (15 October 2016). Submarines: WWI to the Present. Book Sales. pp. 322–. ISBN 978-0-7858-3446-5.
  2. 1 2 Keith Hall (11 June 2018). Polaris: The History of the UK's Submarine Force. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-8850-6.
  3. ↑ James Jinks; Peter Hennessy (29 October 2015). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945. Penguin UK. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-14-197370-8.
  4. 1 2 3 James Jinks; Peter Hennessy (29 October 2015). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945. Penguin UK. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-14-197370-8.
  5. ↑ James Jinks; Peter Hennessy (29 October 2015). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945. Penguin UK. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-14-197370-8.
  6. 1 2 3 David Ross (15 December 2016). The World's Most Powerful Submarines. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-4994-6587-7.
  7. 1 2 James Jinks; Peter Hennessy (29 October 2015). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945. Penguin UK. pp. 455–456. ISBN 978-0-14-197370-8.
  8. ↑ Cameron Buttle (18 November 2011). "Dismantling a nuclear submarine". BBC News.
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