HMS Repulse (S23)

HMS Repulse (S23) was a Resolution-class ballistic missile submarine of the Royal Navy.

HMS Repulse in the Firth of Clyde circa 1979
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Repulse
Ordered: May 1963
Builder: Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down: 12 March 1965
Launched: 4 November 1967
Commissioned: 28 September 1968
Decommissioned: 28 August 1996
Status: Stored at Rosyth, awaiting disposal
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Resolution-class ballistic missile submarine
Displacement: surfaced 7,500 tons; submerged 8,400 tons.
Length: 425 ft (130 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draught: 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Propulsion: 1 × Vickers/Rolls-Royce PWR.1 pressurised-water nuclear reactor, 27,500 shp (20,500 kW); Propeller.
Speed: surface - 20 kn (37 km/h); submerged - 25 kn (46 km/h)
Range: Unlimited except by food supplies
Complement: 143 per crew (two crews port and starboard)

HMS Repulse was one of two Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines ordered from Vickers-Armstrongs on 8 May 1963, with a further two ordered from Cammell Laird the same day. Repulse was laid down at Vickers Armstrongs' Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 12 March 1965 and was launched on 4 November 1967,[1] running aground in the Walney Channel during the launch, although she was undamaged and successfully floated off on the next high tide.[2] She commissioned on 28 September 1968.[3] While she was planned to be the third of her class, delays with the build of HMS Renown at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard meant that Repulse overtook Renown and was commissioned second of class.[4] She was the last of her class remaining in service with the navy, decommissioning in 1996.

References

  1. Blackman 1971, p. 335.
  2. Hennessey and Jinks 2016, pp. 249–250.
  3. Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 531.
  4. Hennessey and Jinks 2016, pp. 251–252.
  • Blackman, Raymond V.B. Jane's Fighting Ships 1971–72. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd. ISBN 0-354-00096-9.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen, eds. (1995). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • Hennessey, Peter; Jinks, James (2016). The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-95948-0.
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