Resolution-class submarine

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HMS Resolution in 1977
Class overview
NameResolution class
Builders
Operators Royal Navy
Succeeded byVanguard class
Built1964–1968
In service1967–1996
Planned5
Completed4
Cancelled1
Active0
Retired4
General characteristics
TypeBallistic missile submarine
Displacement
  • surfaced: 7,500 long tons (7,600 t);
  • submerged: 8,400 long tons (8,500 t)
Length425 ft (130 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draught30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Propulsion1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce
PWR1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp
(20.5 MW); Propeller.
Speed
  • surfaced: 20 kn (37 km/h);
  • submerged: 25 kn (46 km/h)
RangeUnlimited except by food supplies
Complement143 (two crews)

The Resolution class was a

UK Polaris programme. Each submarine was armed with up to 16 UGM-27 Polaris A-3 nuclear missiles
.

The class comprised

Vickers Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness and Cammell Laird in Birkenhead between 1964 and 1968. All four boats were based at HM Naval Base Clyde (HMS Neptune), 40 km (25 mi) west of Glasgow
, Scotland.

The Resolution class was the launch platform for the

nuclear deterrent from the late 1960s until 1996, when it was replaced by the Vanguard-class submarine carrying the Trident II
.

Background

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the

bombers
were becoming vulnerable, and would be unlikely to penetrate Soviet airspace. Free-fall nuclear weapons would no longer be a credible deterrent.

To address this problem, in May 1960 the British Prime Minister,

AGM-48 Skybolt. The Skybolt was a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) range ballistic missile that allowed the launching bombers to remain well away from Soviet defences and launch attacks that would be basically invulnerable. With this range, the V bombers would have to fly only a few hundred miles from their bases before being in range for an attack on Moscow
.

Under the agreement the UK's contribution to the programme was limited to developing suitable mounting points on the Avro Vulcan bomber, installing the required guidance systems that fed the missiles updated positioning information, and development of a British version of the US W47 warhead to arm it, the RE.179 [1] Archived 18 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine.

The Skybolt crisis

The incoming

dual-key
arrangement.

McNamara first broached the idea of cancelling Skybolt with the British in November 1962. When this was reported in the House of Commons, a storm of protest broke out. A meeting was arranged to settle the issue, and Macmillan stated in no uncertain terms that the UK would be retaining their independent deterrent capability, no matter what the cost. With development of their Polaris-derived warheads well along, a suitable launch platform would be developed, if need be.

Faced with a clear failure in policy terms, Kennedy gave up on the idea of strong-arming Britain into accepting a dual-key arrangement. By the end of the

SSBNs
would then take over the nuclear deterrent role from the RAF's V bombers from 1968 onwards.

Construction

Two pairs of the boats were ordered in May 1963 from Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd,

Prime Minister Harold Wilson.[1][2] Traditional battleship names were used, signifying that they were the capital ships
of their time.

HMS Repulse in the Firth of Clyde in 1979.

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.

The design was a modification of the

Tigerfish wire-guided homing torpedoes
. The submarines put to sea with a crew of 143.

According to former head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors R.J. Daniel, the Resolution-class SSBNs possessed five features that were envied by the United States Navy: the machinery loading hatch, automated hovering system, welded hull valves, standardised valves, and raft-mounted propulsion machinery.[3]

Construction programme

Pennant Name (a) Hull builder
(b) Main machinery manufacturers 		Ordered Laid down Launched Accepted
into service 		Commissioned Decommissioned Estimated
building cost[4]
S22 Resolution (a) Vickers Ltd, Shipbuilding Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines)
(b) Rolls-Royce and Associates Ltd.[5] 		8 May 1963 [6] 26 February 1964[1] 15 September 1966[1] October 1967[5] 2 October 1967[1] 22 October 1994 £40.24 million[5] (equivalent to £741.71 million in 2021)[7]
S23 Repulse (a) Vickers Ltd, Shipbuilding Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines).[8] 		8 May 1963 [6] 12 March 1965[1] 4 November 1967[1] October 1968[8] 28 September 1968[1] 28 August 1996 £37.5 million[8] (equivalent to £656.63 million in 2021)[7]
S26 Renown (a) Cammell Laird & Co (Shipbuilders and Engineers) Ltd, Birkenhead
(b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines).[8] 		8 May 1963 [6] 25 June 1964[1] 25 February 1967[1] December 1968[8] 15 November 1968[1] 24 February 1996 £39.95 million[8] (equivalent to £699.53 million in 2021)[7]
S27 Revenge (a) Cammell Laird & Co (Shipbuilders and Engineers) Ltd, Birkenhead
(b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness
(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines).[9] 		8 May 1963 [6] 19 May 1965[1] 15 March 1968[1] December 1969[9] 4 December 1969[1] May 1992 £38.6 million[9] (equivalent to £635.2 million in 2021)[7]
Ramillies[a] Cancelled 1965.[1]

Operational service

A training trigger for the Polaris missile system

The first to be completed was 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 from the USAF Eastern Test Range off

Cape Kennedy at 11:15 on 15 February 1968. Resolution commenced her first operational patrol on 15 June 1968, beginning 28 years of Polaris patrols. The class were part of the 10th Submarine Squadron, all based at Faslane Naval Base, Scotland
.

All four of the class underwent conversion during the 1980s so that they could be fitted with the Polaris A3TK missile which was fitted with the British-developed Chevaline MRV system.

As the newer Vanguard-class submarines entered service, the Resolution class was eventually retired and all boats laid up at

Rosyth dockyard with their used nuclear fuel removed. All four will eventually be disposed of via MOD's Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP). This project will begin in 2016[needs update] with Swiftsure
as the first submarine to prove the technique. The selected method will first remove all Low-level radioactive waste from the vessel, followed by the more radioactive intermediate-level waste. All non-radioactive material in the remainder of the vessel will be recycled for re-use by conventional ship-breaking techniques.

Refits

Polaris missile launch from HMS Revenge in 1983.

New methods of project management were used in the refits of the Resolution class, including:[10]

  • "The appointment of a senior officer of two star rank and with the title of Assistant Controller (Polaris), working under the joint superintendence of the Controller of the Navy and Chief of Fleet Support, whose responsibilities will include the oversight of the preparations for refits of Polaris boats, and their completion;"[10]
  • "The delegation to a designated officer (Director, Project Technical Submarines) of the responsibility for drawing up the "work package" for each refit, which will include full design information and documentation;"[10]
  • "The use of a fully integrated refit management team at Rosyth, and"[10]
  • "The full use of available management techniques and aids, including computers."[10]

See also

Fictional submarines

  • 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.
  • The 1987 book Skydancer by Geoffrey Archer features a fictional British Polaris submarine, HMS Retribution.
  • 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 novel The Penthouse Conspirators by Chapman Pincher features HMS Retaliation, HMS Reprisal, HMS Resolve and HMS Retribution.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Resolution class submarines.

Notes

  • a In the book "Silent Deep", Peter Hennessy describes discussion of the R names and states that Royal Sovereign and not Ramillies was the name chosen for the planned fifth boat.[11]

Cited footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gardiner 1995, p. 531.
  2. ^ Roberts 2009, p. 104.
  3. ^ Daniels 2004, p. 192.
  4. ^ "Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)." Text from Defences Estimates
  5. ^ a b c Defence Estimates, 1968–69, page 75, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1968
  6. ^ a b c d Jones 2017, p. 451.
  7. ^ a b c d UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Defence Estimates, 1969–70, page 75, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1969
  9. ^ a b c Defence Estimates, 1970–71, page XII-81, List and particulars of new ships which have been accepted or are expected to be accepted into HM service during the Financial Year ended 31st March 1970
  10. ^ a b c d e Hansard HC Deb 26 March 1969 vol 780 cc298-9W Response by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Navy (Dr. David Owen) to a question to the Secretary of State for Defence asking him to outline the new methods of project-management involved in the H.M.S. "Resolution" refit at Rosyth in 1970, 26 March 1969.
  11. ^ Hennessy 2016, p. 46.

Cited texts

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