HMS Churchill (S46)
History | |
---|---|
Name: | HMS Churchill |
Namesake: | Winston Churchill |
Laid down: | 30 June 1967 |
Launched: | 20 December 1968 |
Commissioned: | 15 July 1970 |
Decommissioned: | 28 February 1991 |
Fate: | Awaiting disposal |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class & type: | Churchill-class submarine |
Displacement: | 4,900 tonnes (4,823 long tons) submerged |
Length: | 86.9 m (285 ft 1 in) |
Beam: | 10.1 m (33 ft 2 in) |
Draught: | 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in) |
Propulsion: | 1 Rolls-Royce PWR nuclear reactor, 1 shaft |
Speed: | 28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h) submerged |
Complement: | 103 |
Armament: |
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HMS Churchill was the first of three Churchill-class submarine nuclear fleet submarines that served with the Royal Navy.
Construction
Churchill, the Royal Navy's fourth nuclear-powered fleet submarine was ordered on 21 October 1965, and was laid down at Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL)'s Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 30 June 1967. The submarine was launched by Mary Soames, Winston Churchill's youngest daughter, on 20 December 1968 and commissioned on 15 July 1971.[1][2]
Propulsion
Churchill was chosen to trial the first full-size submarine pump jet propulsion. Trials of a high-speed unit were followed by further trials with a low-speed unit, and these were successful enough for the same propulsion to be fitted in the rest of the class.[3] Later British submarine classes also featured the pump jet, although first-of-class vessels Swiftsure and Trafalgar were fitted with propellers at build.
References
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