Resolution class, HMS Renown
Class overview
Builders:	Vickers Shipbuilding ltd, Barrow in Furness Cammerl Laird and Co ltd, Birkenhead.
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	none
Followed by:	Vanguard class submarine
In service:	1966 - 1996
Ships in class:	4
Ships out of service:	Resolution Repulse Renown Revenge
General Characteristics
Displacement:	surfaced 7,500 tons; submerged 8,400 tons.
Length:	425ft (129.5 m)
Beam:	33ft (10.1 m)
Draught:	30 ft 1 in
Propulsion and power:	1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce PWR.1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp (20510 kW); Propeller.
Speed:	surface - 20kt; submerged - 25kt
Range:	Unlimited except by food supplies
Complement:	143 (two crews)

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Great Britain's only nuclear deterrent was through the RAF's V-bombers. But developments in radar and surface-to-air weaponry made it clear that bombers were becoming vulnerable. In January 1963, the Defence Committee decided that the nation's nuclear deterrent should be carried by submarines. In February of the same year, the government announced that it was to order four Resolution-class submarines with nuclear power plants and be armed with the polaris missile. The SSBNs would then take over the nuclear deterrent role from the RAF's V-bombers from 1968 onwards. Download high resolution version (797x1057, 59 KB)HMS Renown (Resolution-class submarine). ... Image File history File links Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... The Vanguard class are the Royal Navys current nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), each armed with up to 16 Trident II SLBMs. ... HMS Resolution (S22) was the first of the Royal Navys Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines. ... HMS Repulse (S23) was the second of the Royal Navys Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines. ... HMS Renown (S22) was the third of the Royal Navys Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines. ... HMS Revenge (S27) was the fourth of the Royal Navys Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the UKs strategic nuclear strike force. ... Rada is the term for council or assembly borrowed by Polish from Middle High German Rat (council) and later passed into Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... The Polaris Missile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) carrying a nuclear warhead developed during the Cold War for the United States Navy. ... SSBN is the United States Navy Hull classification symbol for a fleet ballistic missile submarine. ...

The first two pair of the boats were ordered in May 1963 from Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow in Furness and Cammell Laird and Co. Ltd, Birkenhead. The option of buying a fifth unit was cancelled in February 1965. , Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and port in the north-west of England, known for its shipbuilding and steel-making industries. ... For other uses, see Birkenhead (disambiguation). ...

Five boats were planned but only four were completed (Ramillies was to have been the fifth vessel). Traditional battleship names were used, signifying that they were the capital ships of the time. The capital ships of a navy are its important warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. ...

Vickers Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness constructed Resolution and Repulse and Cammell Laird in Birkenhead constructed Renown and Revenge. The construction was unusual in that the bow and stern were constructed separately before being assembled together with the American-designed missile compartment. Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL) is based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. ... Barrow-in-Furness is a town in Cumbria, England. ... Cammell Laird logo Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. ... For other uses, see Birkenhead (disambiguation). ...

The design was a modification of the Valiant Class Fleet Submarine, but greatly extended to incorporate the missile compartment between the fin and the nuclear reactor. The length was 130 metres, breadth 10.1 metres, height 9 metres and the displacement 8,400 tons submerged and 7,600 tons surfaced. A Rolls-Royce pressurised water reactor and English Electric turbines gave them a speed of 25 knots and they could dive to depths of 275 m. Sixteen Polaris A3 missiles were carried, in two rows of eight. For emergencies there was a diesel generator and six 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes located at the bow, firing the Tigerfish wire-guided homing torpedoes. The submarines put to sea with a crew of 143. The Valiant-class were the first fully British nuclear fleet submarine, as the first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought, actually used an American nuclear reactor. ... This article is about the aircraft engine company. ... English Electric logo English Electric was a 20th-century British industrial manufacturer, initially of electric motors, and expanding to include railway locomotives and aviation, before becoming part of GEC. // 1917: Dick, Kerr & Co. ... A knot is a non SI unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. ... The Mk24-2 Tigerfish torpedo is a heavy Acoustic homing torpedo used by the Royal Navy for several years. ...

The first to be completed was HMS Resolution, laid down in February 1964 and launched in September 1966. After commissioning in 1967 she underwent a long period of sea trials culminating in the test firing of a Polaris missile. Fired from the USAF Eastern Test Range off Cape Kennedy at 11:15 on February 15, 1968. Resolution commenced her first operational patrol on June 15, 1968, beginning 28 years of Polaris patrols. The class were part of the 10th Submarine Squadron, all based at Faslane Naval Base, Scotland. Cape Canaveral is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, near the center of the Atlantic coast. ... is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Location of Faslane and RNAD Coulport Faslane Naval Base, HMNB Clyde Her Majestys Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde (HMS Neptune), is one of three operating bases for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). ... This article is about the country. ...

All four of the class underwent conversion during the 1980s so that they could be fitted with the polaris A-TK missile which was fitted with the British developed Chevaline MRV warhead. Chevaline Penetration Aid Carrier (warhead platform) on display at RAF Kemble. ...

As the newer Vanguard class submarines entered service, the resolution class was eventually retired and all boats laid up at Roysth dockyard with their reactors removed. Vanguard Class Submarine Test launch of a Trident D5 SLBM The Royal Navys Vanguard class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), each armed with 16 Trident II SLBMs, includes four boats: Vanguard (S28), Victorious (S29), Vigilant (S30), and Vengeance (S31), all built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd, now...

Fictional submarines

• In the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, the fictional Polaris submarine HMS Ranger is hijacked by the film's main villain.
• The 1987 book Skydancer by Geoffrey Archer features a fictional British Polaris submarine, HMS Retribution.
• The 1971 book The Fighting Temeraire by John Winton features a fictional British Polaris submarine, HMS Temeraire which is used on a spying mission in the Black Sea.

007 redirects here. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see The Spy Who Loved Me. ... Geoffrey Archer is a fiction writer from London, UK. He specialises in military adventures and spy thrillers. ...

Reference

• The Encyclopedia Of Warships, From World War Two To The Present Day, General Editor Robert Jackson.