Everything about Vanguard Class Submarine totally explained
The
Vanguard class are the
Royal Navy's current nuclear
ballistic missile submarines (Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear or SSBN), each armed with up to 16
Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The class was introduced in 1994 as part of the UK government's
Trident nuclear weapons programme.
The class includes four boats:
Vanguard (S28),
Victorious (S29),
Vigilant (S30), and
Vengeance (S31), all built at
Barrow-in-Furness by
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd between 1986 and 1999.
All four boats are based at
Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde (HMS Neptune), 25
miles (40
km) west of
Glasgow,
Scotland. Since the decommissioning of
free-fall nuclear bombs in 1998, the
Vanguard submarines' Trident SLBM system is
the UK's only nuclear deterrent.
Design
The
Vanguards were designed from the outset as an unlimited-range nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, unlike the previous
Resolution class which was adapted from the then existing
Valiant class and the American
Lafayette class of nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarines (
SSBN in US terms). At 149.9 metres long and 15,980 tonnes submerged displacement the
Vanguards are roughly twice the size of the
Resolutions, and are the third largest submarines ever built, by displacement when surfaced, after the
Russian
Typhoon and
American Ohio classes. The great increase in size is largely related to much larger size of the
Trident D-5 missile as compared to
Polaris.
The
Vanguards were designed and built at
Barrow-in-Furness by
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL), now
BAE Systems Submarines. The Devonshire dock hall was built specifically to build these submarines. The missile compartment is based on the system used on the
Ohio class, though only 16 missiles are carried rather than the 24 of the
Ohio.
In addition to the missile tubes the
Vanguard class is fitted with four 21 inch (53.3 cm)
torpedo tubes and carries the
Spearfish heavyweight torpedo, allowing it to engage submerged or surface targets at ranges up to 65 kilometres (40 miles). Two SSE Mark 10 launchers are also fitted to allow the boats to deploy Type 2066 and Type 2071 decoys, and a UAP Mark 3 electronic support measures (ESM) intercept system is fitted.
HMS
Vanguard,
Victorious,
Vigilant and
Vengeance were commissioned in 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2000 respectively.
Sensors
Vanguard carries the
Thales Underwater Systems Type 2054 composite
sonar. The Type 2054 is a multi-mode, multi-frequency system, which incorporates the 2046, 2043 and 2082 sonars. The fleet is in the process of having their sonars refitted to include open architecture processing using commercial off the shelf technology.
A Type 2043 hull-mounted active/passive search sonar is also carried, as is a Type 2082 passive intercept and ranging sonar. Finally a Type 2046 towed array is carried. This operates at very low frequency, giving a passive search capability.
Two
periscopes are carried, a CK51 search model and a CH91 attack model. Both have a TV camera and thermal imager as well as conventional optics.
A Type 1007 I-band navigation
radar is also carried.
Command System
A specialised Submarine Command System (
SMCS) was originally developed for the
Vanguard boats and was later used on other Royal Navy submarines.
Propulsion
A new
pressurised water reactor, the PWR 2, was designed for the
Vanguard class. This has double the service life of previous models, and it's estimated that a
Vanguard class submarine could circumnavigate the world 40 times without refuelling. This should allow the class to carry out their entire service life without the need for expensive refuelling. The reactor drives two GEC turbines linked to a single shaft
pump jet propulsor. This propulsion system gives the
Vanguards a maximum submerged speed of 25 knots. There are two
Paxman diesel alternators and two turbo generators from WH Allen for backup.
History
Table 1 Vanguard class—significant dates>
| Name |
Launched |
Commissioned |
Test launch 1 |
Test launch 2 |
Maiden patrol |
| HMS Vanguard (S28) |
March 1992 |
August 1993 |
May 26, 1994 |
June 20, 1994 |
December 1994 |
| HMS Victorious (S29) |
September 1993 |
January 1995 |
July 24, 1995 |
August 22, 1995 |
December 1995 |
| HMS Vigilant (S30) |
October 1995 |
November 1996 |
October 10, 1997 |
October 10, 1997 |
June 1998 |
| HMS Vengeance (S31) |
September 1998 |
27 November 1999 |
September 21, 2000 |
N/A |
February 2001 |
The submarines were built in specially constructed facilities at
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (now
BAE Systems Submarine Solutions),
Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria. The Trident II D-5 achieved an initial operational capability with the U.S. Navy in March 1990. Following launch and commissioning the vessels deployed on Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASOs). The major part of this was the test firing of Trident missiles at the United States' SLBM Launch Area, Eastern Test Range,
Cape Canaveral, off the coast of
Florida (see table above).
General characteristics
- Displacement: 15,980 tonnes submerged
- Length: 149.9 metres
- Beam: 12.8 metres
- Draught: 12 metres
- Complement: 14 officers, 121 ratings
- Propulsion: PWR2 reactor
- Armament:
- Sensors:
- sonar (bow array, active intercept, and towed arrays)
- periscopes: (attack and two search periscopes)
- collision avoidance radar
- Command System:
- SMCS at introduction of service
- SMCS-NG from 2006 onwards
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Vanguard Class Submarine'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://vanguard_class_submarine.totallyexplained.com">Vanguard class submarine Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
