.jpg) Churchill-class submarine HMS Conqueror
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Churchill class |
| Builders | Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by | Valiant class |
| Succeeded by | Swiftsure class |
| In service | 1970–1992 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Retired | 3 |
| Preserved | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Displacement | 4,900 tonnes |
| Length | 86.9 m (285 ft) |
| Beam | 10.1 m (33 ft) |
| Draught | 8.2 m (27 ft) |
| Propulsion | One nuclear reactor, one shaft |
| Speed | 28 knots (52 km/h) submerged |
| Range | Unlimited, except by food supplies |
| Complement | 103 |
| Armament |
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The three Churchill class,[1] sometimes known as the Repeat Valiant-class submarines were nuclear-powered fleet submarines which served with the Royal Navy from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The Churchill class was based on the older Valiant class, but featured many internal improvements.
The lead vessel was named after the former Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. HMS Conqueror was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano during the 1982 Falklands War. As of 2022[update], this is the only instance of a nuclear-powered submarine of any nation sinking an enemy ship by torpedo.
- ^ Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines, pub Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-2781-4 page 177.