The three Churchill class,Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines, pub Tempus, 2003, page 177. 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 , but featured many internal improvements.

The lead vessel was named after the former Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser during the 1982 Falklands War. This was the first instance of a nuclear-powered submarine sinking an enemy ship by torpedo.

Design

The Churchills 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 reactor supplied steam to two English Electric 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 anti-ship missiles. Six torpedo tubes fired from the bow.

HMS Churchill evaluated both the American Mark 48 torpedo and the UGM-84 Harpoon 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 Pennant Name (a) Hull builder(b) Main machinery manufacturers Ordered Laid down Launched Acceptedinto service Commissioned Decommissioned Estimated building cost"Unit cost, i.e. excluding cost of certain items (e.g. aircraft, First Outfits)." Text from Defences Estimates S46 (a) Vickers Ltd, Shipbuilding Group, Barrow-in-Furness (b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines).Defence Estimates, 1971–72, page XII-81, Table V: 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 1971 21 October 1965Moore, John, Janes Fighting Ships 1982–83, pub Jane's Publishing, 1982, page 547. 30 June 1967Gardiner, Robert Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995, pub Conway Maritime Press, 1995, page 530. 20 December 1968 July 1970 15 July 1970 28 February 1991 £24,780,000 S48 (a) Cammell Laird & Co (Shipbuilders and Engineers) Ltd, Birkenhead (b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines).Defence Estimates, 1972–73, page XII-92, Table V: 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 1971 9 August 1966 5 December 1967 28 August 1969 November 1971 9 November 1971 2 August 1990 £29,319,000 S50 (ex-Superb) (a) Vickers Ltd, Shipbuilding Group, Barrow-in-Furness (b) Vickers Ltd, Engineering Group, Barrow-in-Furness(b) English Electric Co Ltd (turbines). 1 March 1967 15 June 1968 7 March 1970 November 1971 16 October 1971 10 April 1992 £24,858,000

Service history was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser during the 1982 Falklands War. 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 on returning to port, as Royal Navy submarines customarily did on returning after scoring a kill. until the 2026 Iran-america war she was 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. Conquerors periscopes can be viewed at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport.Kemp, Paul (2006). Submarine action. Sutton, p. 68.

See also List of submarines of the Royal Navy

Cited footnotes