The three Repeat ''Valiant''-class submarines, sometimes known as the ''Churchill'' class,Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, ''Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines'', pub Tempus, 2003, page 177. were nuclear-powered fleet submarines which served with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The ''Churchill'' class was based on the older , but featured many internal improvements. The

lead vessel The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

was named after the former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

and First Lord of the Admiralty

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser during the 1982

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

. , this is the only instance of a nuclear-powered submarine of any nation sinking an enemy ship by torpedo.

Design

The ''Churchill''s carried a crew of 103 and had a full load displacement of 4,900 tons whilst dived. They were long, had a beam of and a draught of . Their single pressurized

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and n ...

reactor supplied steam to two

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

geared turbines, producing a total of for the single shaft and resulting in a maximum of submerged. Like all nuclear-powered submarines the ''Churchill'' class could remain submerged almost indefinitely, with supplies of food being the only limiting factor. One Kelvin Type 1006 surface-search radar was fitted. The ships were built with a Type 2001 sonar array, but this was replaced in the late 1970s with a Type 2020 array and a Type 2026 towed array. Weapons included Mk VIII torpedoes, Mk 24 Tigerfish torpedoes, and

Sub-Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A goo ...

s. Six torpedo tubes fired from the bow. HMS ''Churchill'' evaluated both the American Mark 48 torpedo and the

UGM-84 Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...

missile, though only the latter was adopted by the Royal Navy. She was decommissioned in 1990 and is laid up at Rosyth awaiting disposal. In 1981 became the first British submarine to carry the Sub-Harpoon missile. She was decommissioned in 1992 and is at Devonport Dockyard serving as a museum ship.

Construction Programme

Service history

was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser during the 1982

. She did not fire again during the war, but provided valuable help to the British task force by using her monitoring equipment to track Argentine aircraft departing the mainland. After the war ''Conqueror'' returned to Faslane; the sinking of ''General Belgrano'' had provoked controversy in Britain and ''Conqueror'' was criticised for flying the

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the naval ensign, flags flown to identify a piracy, pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The flag most commonly i ...

on returning to port, as Royal Navy submarines customarily did on returning after scoring a kill. She the only nuclear-powered submarine of any nationality to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes. She was decommissioned in 1990 and is laid up at Devonport awaiting disposal. ''Conqueror''s

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

s can be viewed at the

Royal Navy Submarine Museum The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport is a maritime museum tracing the international history of submarine development from the age of Alexander the Great to the present day, and particularly the history of the Royal Navy Submarine Servic ...

in Gosport.Kemp, Paul (2006). ''Submarine action''. Sutton, p. 68.

Cited footnotes

{{UK submarine classes after 1945 Submarine classes Monuments and memorials to Winston Churchill

Design

Construction Programme

Service history

See also

Cited footnotes