HMS Churchill (S46)

HMS Churchill was the first of three Churchill-class^[a] nuclear fleet submarines that served with the Royal Navy.

Construction

In 1965, following a decision by the Labour government not to build a fifth Resolution class ballistic missile submarine, production of nuclear-powered fleet submarines, which had been postponed owing to the priority given to the Polaris programme, could be restarted.^[1] Churchill, the Royal Navy's fourth nuclear-powered fleet submarine was ordered on 21 October 1965, and was laid down at Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL)'s Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 30 June 1967.^[3] Following a collision between sister submarine Warspite and a Soviet Echo II-class submarine in the Barents Sea on 9 October 1968, the fin of Churchill, still under construction at Barrow, was used to replace Warspite's fin, which had been badly damaged in the collision.^[5]^[6] Churchill was launched by Mary Soames, Winston Churchill's youngest daughter, on 20 December 1968,^[7] and commissioned on 15 July 1970.^[3]

Propulsion

Churchill was chosen to trial the first full-size submarine pump jet propulsion. Trials of a high-speed unit were followed by further trials with a low-speed unit, and these were successful enough for the same propulsion to be fitted in the rest of the class.^[8] Later British submarine classes also featured the pump jet, although first-of-class vessels Swiftsure and Trafalgar were fitted with propellers at build.

Notes

^ Some sources call Churchill a "Repeat Valiant",^[1]^[2] while others treat Churchill as a member of the five-submarine Valiant class.^[3]^[4]

Citations

^ a b Hennessey & Jinks 2016, p. 291.
^ Friedman 2021, Chapter 7: Going Nuclear "SSN 04 and SSN 05 were described as the Repeat Valiant Class (NSR 7064)."
^ a b c Blackman 1971, p. 336.
^ Gardiner & Chumbley 1995, p. 530.
^ Ballantyne 2014, p. 134.
^ Hennessey & Jinks 2016, pp. 310–313.
^ Gingeill, Basil (21 December 1968). "Tradition broken by Navy". The Times. No. 57440. p. 1.
^ Bud, Robert; Gummett, Philip (2002). Cold war, hot science: applied research in Britain's defence laboratories, 1945-1990. NMSI Trading Ltd. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-900747-47-9.

References

Ballantyne, Iain (2014). Hunter Killers: The Dramatic Untold Story of the Royal Navy's Most Secret Service. London: Orion. ISBN 978-1-4091-3901-0.
Blackman, Raymond V. B., ed. (1971). Jane's Fighting Ships 1971–72. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. ISBN 0-354-00096-9.
Friedman, Norman (2021). British Submarines in the Cold War Era. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-7123-0.
Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen, eds. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
Hennessey, Peter; Jinks, James (2016). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-241-95948-0.

External links

http://www.hmschurchill.co.uk Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
Film of Churchill's launch- Imperial War Museum