HMS Sceptre (S104)
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Sceptre |
Operator | Royal Navy |
Ordered | 1 November 1971 |
Builder | Vickers |
Laid down | 19 February 1974 |
Launched | 20 November 1976 |
Sponsored by | Lady Audrey White |
Commissioned | 14 February 1978 |
Decommissioned | 10 December 2010 at Devonport[1] |
Homeport | Faslane |
Motto | Honour With Authority |
Status | Decommissioned |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Swiftsure-class submarine |
Displacement | 4,900 tonnes (dived) |
Length | 82.9 m (272 ft 0 in) |
Beam | 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in) |
Draught | 8.5 m (27 ft 11 in) |
Propulsion | 1 × Rolls-Royce pressurised water nuclear reactor (PWR1) |
Speed | In excess of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), dived |
Complement | 116 officers and ratings |
Armament |
|
The fifth HMS Sceptre is a Swiftsure-class submarine built by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in 1976, with a bottle of cider against her hull.[1] She was commissioned on 14 February 1978, by Lady Audrey White. She was the tenth nuclear fleet submarine to enter service with the Royal Navy. She was decommissioned on 10 December 2010, at which time she was the oldest commissioned vessel in the Royal Navy still available for service;[2] in total around 1,500 men served aboard during her commission.[3] In theory, she is replaced by the first Astute-class submarine in service, HMS Astute.[1][4][5]
Service
Collision with a Soviet submarine
Sceptre has suffered several severe accidents in her career. On 23 May 1981 she collided with a Soviet submarine (K-211) and her reactor's protection systems would have performed an automatic emergency shutdown (scrammed the reactor), but her captain ordered the safety mechanisms overridden (battleshort enabled). The crew were told to say that they had hit an iceberg.
Much of Sceptre's forward outer casing was torn away; there was damage to the fin with the bridge no longer there; and the propeller of the Russian boat had cut into the pressure hull. This incident was disclosed when David Forghan, Sceptre's former weapons officer, gave a television interview which was broadcast on 19 September 1991. The Soviet submarine collided with was K-211 of the Delta III class, which on 23 May 1981 collided with an unknown submarine, identified at the time as an unknown Sturgeon-class American submarine.[6][7]
1987 refit
In 1987 Sceptre was fitted with an improved reactor core (Core Z). In March 1990, there was a coolant leak while Sceptre was at
Scotia incident (1989)
In November 2010, it was reported in Hansard that Sceptre had snagged the nets of the fishing vessel Scotia in November 1989.[8]
Propulsion trial accident (2000)
On 6 March 2000 Sceptre suffered a serious accident while inside a drydock at the Rosyth yards while undergoing trials towards the end of a major refit. The test involved flooding the drydock, and running the main engines slowly with steam supplied from the shore. However, too much steam was used and the engines went to full speed. Sceptre broke her moorings and shot forward off the cradle she rested on. The steam line ruptured, scaffolding buckled, a crane was pushed forward some 15 feet, and the submarine moved forward some 20 yards (18 m) inside the dock.[9]
Return to active service (2003)
The investigation into the runaway also looked at Sceptre's reactor problems, and recommended that the boat be scrapped.[citation needed] In January 2002, with Sceptre still laid up, Defence Minister Adam Ingram declared that the problem was "small original fabrication imperfections" in the reactor pressure vessel.[10] He could not say how long it would take to inspect and repair the problem.[10] In March 2003, Sceptre left Rosyth Dockyard, after being in refit for six years, to undertake sea trials; she was the last submarine refitted in Rosyth.[11] In late October 2003, Sceptre completed her post-refit sea trials and returned to active service.[12]
Gibraltar controversy (2005)
On 3 February 2005, Sceptre put in at
Fate
HMS Sceptre was sent to the Falkland Islands to support the British garrison in March 2010, during Desire Petroleum's exploratory oil drilling.[15]
Sceptre returned to Devonport for the last time in May 2010 and was decommissioned on 10 December 2010 after 32 years of service.
Affiliations
- The town of Wigan.[3][17]
- Scots Guards.[17]
- Yorkshire University Royal Naval Unit (YURNU).[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b "Royal Naval submarine decommissioned at Plymouth". Royal Navy website. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
- ^ a b c d Eve Watson (8 November 2020). "Devonport Dockyard's 12 nuclear submarines and the history behind them". The Herald.
- ^ House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 3 Sep 2007 (Column 1631W)
- ^ House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 3 Sep 2007 (Column 1442W)
- ^ Российский Подводныи Флот (Russian Submarine Fleet) at submarine.id.ru, collision #22 (Russian language) Archived 4 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 9781409144182.
- ^ "House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 02 Nov 2010 (Pt 0001)".
- ^ "Nuclear submarine breaks loose in refitting bay tests". The Herald. 6 March 2000.
- ^ a b "Written Answers to Questions - Defence, Naval Vessels". parliament.uk. 9 January 2002.
- ^ "Sceptre marks end of an era" (PDF). Navy News. August 2003.
- ^ "HMS Sceptre News". royalnavy.mod.uk. Royal Navy. 21 October 2003. Archived from the original on 21 November 2003.
- ^ a b "Spain and Gibraltar unite against stricken submarine". The Times. 5 February 2005.
- ^ "Gran Bretaña: submarino nuclear listo para dejar Gibraltar". Laredo Morning Times (in Spanish). 6 February 2005.
- ^ "HMS Sceptre Heads To Falklands". MoD news. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ "Life on Board a British Nuclear Submarine".
- ^ a b "HMS Sceptre Affiliations". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 11 September 2004.