Resolution Class SubmarinesDuring the 1950s and early 1960s, the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent was through the RAF's V-bombers. But developments in radar and surface-to-air missiles made it clear that bombers were becoming vulnerable, and would be unlikely to penetrate Soviet airspace by the early 1960s. Free-fall nuclear weapons would no longer be a credible deterrent.
To address this problem, in May 1960 Prime Minister Macmillan arranged a deal with President Eisenhower to equip the V-bombers with the US-designed 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 of an attack on Moscow.
Under the agreement, the UK's contribution to the program 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 their own version of the US W47 warhead to arm it, the RE.179.
The Skybolt crisis
The incoming Kennedy administration expressed serious doubts with both Skybolt and the US deterrent force in general. Robert McNamara was highly critical of the US bomber fleet, which he saw as obsolete in an age of ICBMs. Skybolt was seen simply as a way to continue the existence of a system he no longer considered credible, and given the rapidly improving capabilities of inertial guidance systems, their precision strike capability with free-fall bombs would no longer be needed. McNamara was equally concerned about the UK retaining an independent nuclear force, and worried that the US could be drawn into a war by the UK, or using the UK as a proxy hostage by the Soviets. He wanted to draw the UK into a dual-key arrangement.
Resolution (S22)
Repulse (S23)
Renown (S26)
Revenge (S27)
Ramillies (Cancelled 1964)
The first to be completed was HMS 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. Fired 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 AT-K 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 reactors removed.
Courtesy of Wikipedia >> Resolution_class_submarines
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The class includes four boats: Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant, and Vengeance, all built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd between 1986 and 1999.
All four boats are based at HM Naval Base Clyde (HMS Neptune), 40 km (25 miles) west of Glasgow, Scotland. Since the decommissioning of all WE.177 free-fall nuclear bombs in 1998, and the removal of all nuclear weapons from the British Army, the Royal Air Force, and all surface ships of the Royal Navy, the Vanguard submarines' Trident SLBM system is the sole holder of the United Kingdom's nuclear weapons.
Vanguard, (S28)
Victorious, (S29)
Vigilant, (S30)
Vengeance, (S31)
Courtesy of Wikipedia >> Vanguard_class_submarines
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