List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy
Encyclopedia
This is a list of submarine
classes of the Royal Navy
of the United Kingdom
. Dates of construction given.
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
classes of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Dates of construction given.
Petrol-electric
- Holland classHolland class submarineThe Holland-class were the first submarines built for the Royal Navy. They were built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. The first three were designed by John Philip Holland. The Hollands were built under licence from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company/Electric Boat Company during the years 1901 to 1903...
— 5 boats, 1901–1902 - A class — 13 boats, 1902–1905
- B classBritish B class submarineThe B-class was a class of 11 submarines, built by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy, and launched in 1904–06. One boat was sunk by a collision in 1912, but the remainder served in World War I. Three boats protected the transfer of the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1914,...
— 11 boats, 1904–1906 - C classBritish C class submarineThe British C class submarines were the last class of petrol engined submarines of the Royal Navy and marked the end of the development of the Holland-class in the Royal Navy...
— 38 boats, 1906–1910
Diesel-electric
- D classBritish D class submarineThere were plans for a further two, D9 and D10, but these were launched at Chatham Dockyard as HMS E1 and HMS E2.-See also:*Not to be confused with the United States D class submarine of 1909-1910.-Sources:...
— 8 boats, 1908–1912 - E classBritish E class submarineThe British E class submarines started out as improved versions of the British D class submarine. All of the first group and some of the second group were completed before the outbreak of World War I....
— 58 boats, 1912–1916 - F classBritish F class submarineThe F class submarine was built for the Royal Navy as a coastal submarine based on the doubled hulled V class submarine with very few minor improvements. The only important improvement was the addition of a stern torpedo tube...
— 3 boats, 1913–1917 - S classBritish S class submarine (1914)The British S class submarine of 1914 were built by Scotts, Greenock just before World War I. The S class was based on an Italian design of the Laurenti boats.The design had ten internal bulkheads.Three vessels were constructed...
— 3 boats, 1914–1915 - V classBritish V class submarine (1914)The British V class submarines were built by Vickers, Barrow during World War I in response to Scotts, Greenock building the British S class submarine and Armstrong Whitworth building the British W class submarine.4 V class submarines were built....
— 4 boats, 1914–1915 - W classBritish W class submarineThe W class submarines were built for the Royal Navy as experimental boats. They were based on a French Schneider-Laubeuf design. The design for W3 and W4 was heavily modified to meet Royal Navy requirements, overcoming some of the deficiencies of the 'off the shelf' design...
— 4 boats, 1914–1915 - G classBritish G class submarineThe Royal Navy's G-class of diesel/electric submarines were launched between 1914 and 1917, and intended for operations in the North Sea and German Bight in World War I against German U-boats. The design was based on the E-class, adopting the double hull concept, but in practice showed little...
— 14 boats, 1915–1917 - H classBritish H class submarineThe British H class submarines were Holland 602 type submarines used by the Royal Navy. The submarines constructed for the British Royal Navy between 1915 and 1919 were designed and built in response to German boats which mined British waters and sank coastal shipping with ease due to their small...
— 44 boats, 1915–1919 - J classBritish J class submarineThe J class of submarines was a seven submarine class developed by the Royal Navy prior to the First World War in response to claims that Germany was developing submarines that were fast enough to operate alongside surface fleets...
— 7 boats, 1915–1917 - L classBritish L class submarineThe British L class submarine were originally planned under the emergency war programme as an improved version of the British E class submarine. The scale of change allowed the L class to become a separate class....
— 34 boats, 1917–1919 - M classBritish M class submarineThe British Royal Navy M-class submarines were a small class of diesel electric submarine built during World War I. The unique feature of the class was a 12-inch gun mounted in a turret forward of the conning tower.-Background:...
— 3 boats, 1917–1918 - Nautilus classNautilus class submarine (1917)HMS Nautilus was the largest submarine built for the Royal Navy at the time and the first to be given a name.Nautilus was designed in response to recommendations for an overseas submarine displacing 1,000 tons and capable of...
— 1 boat, 1917 - R classBritish R class submarineThe R-class submarines were a class of 12 small British diesel-electric submarines built for the Royal Navy during World War I, and were forerunners of the modern hunter-killer submarines, in that they were designed specifically to attack and sink enemy submarines, their battery capacity and hull...
— 12 boats, 1918 - HMS X1HM Submarine X1HM Submarine X1 was conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider for the Royal Navy; at the time of her launching she was the largest submarine in the world. The idea of a submarine cruiser had been proposed as early as 1915, but was not put into practice until 1921...
— 1 boat, 1921 - Odin classOdin class submarineThe Odin class submarine was a class of nine submarines developed and built for the Royal Navy in the 1920s. The prototype was followed by two ships originally ordered for the Royal Australian Navy, but transferred to the RN in 1931 because of the poor economic situation in Australia, and six...
— 9 boats 1926–29 (subclasses Oberon 1 boat, Oxley 2 boats, Odin 6 boats) - Parthian classParthian class submarineThe Parthian class submarine or P class was a class of six submarines built for the Royal Navy in the late 1920s. They were designed as long-range patrol submarines for the Far East. These ships were almost identical to the Odin class, the only difference being a different bow...
— 6 boats, 1929 - Rainbow classRainbow class submarineThe Rainbow class submarine or R class was a class of four submarines built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. They were designed as long range patrol submarines for the Far East and were essentially repeats of the preceding Parthian class submarines with minor modifications...
— 4 boats, 1930 - S classBritish S class submarine (1931)The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were originally designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea replacing the British H class submarines...
— 62 boats (subclasses Swordfish 4, Shark 8, Seraph 33, Subtle 17), 1931–1945 - Thames class — 3 boats, 1932
- Grampus classGrampus class submarineThe Grampus-class submarines were a group of minelaying submarines built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. These boats are sometimes referred to as the Porpoise class from the single prototype, HMS Porpoise built in 1932. Five boats to a modified design were built between 1936 and 1938...
— 6 boats, 1932–1938 - T classBritish T class submarineThe Royal Navy's T class of diesel-electric submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P and R classes. Fifty-three members of the class were built just before and during the Second World War, where they played a major role in the Royal Navy's submarine operations...
— 52 boats (subclasses Triton 15, Tempest 15, Taciturn 22), 1937–1945 - Undine classBritish U class submarineThe British U class submarines were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War...
— 3 boats, 1937–1938 - P611 classOruç Reis class submarineThe Oruç Reis class submarines were ordered by the Turkish Navy from the British company Vickers in 1939. They were similar to the British S class submarines, but slightly smaller. They had the S class machinery but only four bow torpedo tubes...
— 4 boats, 1940 - Umpire classBritish U class submarineThe British U class submarines were a class of 49 small submarines built just before and during the Second World War...
— 37 boats, 1940–1943 - Vampire classBritish V class submarineThe British V class submarine was a class of submarines built for the Royal Navy during World War II. 42 vessels were ordered to this design, all to be built by Vickers-Armstrong at either Barrow-in-Furness or at Walker-on-Tyne, but only 22 were completed...
— 22 boats, 1943–1944 - Amphion classAmphion class submarine|-See also:- External links :**...
— 16 boats, 1945–1947 - Explorer classExplorer class submarineThe two Explorer class submarines were experimental vessels built for the Royal Navy to test a propulsion system based on the use of highly concentrated Hydrogen peroxide and diesel fuel to achieve high underwater endurance and speeds....
— 2 boats, 1954–1955 - Stickleback classStickleback class submarineThe Stickleback class submarines were midget submarines of the Royal Navy initially ordered as improved versions of the older XE class submarines...
— 4 boats, 1954–1955 - Porpoise classBritish Porpoise class submarineThe Porpoise class was an eight-boat class of diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Navy. This class was originally designated patrol submarines, then attack. They were the first conventional British submarines to be built after the end of World War II...
— 8 boats, 1956–1959 - Oberon classOberon class submarineThe Oberon class was a 27-boat class of British-built diesel-electric submarines based on the successful British Porpoise-class submarine....
— 13 boats, 1959–1966 - Upholder class — 4 boats, 1990–1994
Midget
- X ClassX class submarineThe X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine - - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew...
— 20 boats, 1943-1944 - XE ClassXE class submarineSix XE-class midget submarines were built for the Royal Navy during 1944. They were an improved version of the X Class midgets used in the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz....
— 6 boats, 1944 - Stickleback classStickleback class submarineThe Stickleback class submarines were midget submarines of the Royal Navy initially ordered as improved versions of the older XE class submarines...
— 5 boats, 1954–1955
Steam-electric
- SwordfishHMS Swordfish (1916)HMS Swordfish was an experimental submarine built for the Royal Navy before the First World War to meet the Navy's goal of an "overseas" submarine capable of on the surface. Diesel engines of the period were unreliable and not very powerful so steam turbines were proposed instead to meet the RN's...
— 1 boat, 1916–1922 - K classBritish K class submarineThe K class submarines were a class of steam-propelled submarines of the Royal Navy designed in 1913. Intended as large, fast vessels which had the endurance and speed to operate with the battle fleet, they gained notoriety, and the nickname of Kalamity class, for being involved in many accidents....
— 22 boats, 1916–1919
Foreign-built
- Archimede classArchimede class submarineThe Archimede class were a group of submarines built for the Italian Navy in the early 1930s. The boats fought in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II...
, — 1 boat, 1934 - Type VIIC U-boatGerman Type VII submarineType VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...
, — 1 boat, 1941 - Type XVII U-boat, — 1 boat, 1943
Land Based Prototype
- HMS VulcanHMS VulcanEight ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Vulcan, after the god Vulcan, of Roman mythology:Ships was an 8-gun fireship launched in 1691 and sunk as a breakwater in 1709. was an 8-gun fireship, previously the civilian Hunter. She was purchased in 1739 and hulked...
PWR 1 (Dounreay Submarine Prototype 1) 1965-1984 - HMS VulcanHMS VulcanEight ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Vulcan, after the god Vulcan, of Roman mythology:Ships was an 8-gun fireship launched in 1691 and sunk as a breakwater in 1709. was an 8-gun fireship, previously the civilian Hunter. She was purchased in 1739 and hulked...
PWR 2 (Shore Test Facility) 1987–present
Fleet
- DreadnoughtHMS Dreadnought (S101)The seventh HMS Dreadnought was the United Kingdom's first nuclear-powered submarine, built by Vickers Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness. Launched by Queen Elizabeth II on Trafalgar Day 1960 and commissioned into service with the Royal Navy in April 1963, she continued in service until 1980...
— one boat, 1960–1980 - Valiant classValiant class submarineThe Valiant class were a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy from the mid 1960s until 1994. They were the first fully British nuclear fleet submarine; the earlier used an American nuclear reactor...
— 2 boats, 1963–1994 - Churchill classChurchill class submarineThe three Improved Valiant class submarines, sometimes known as the Churchill class, were nuclear powered fleet submarines which served with the Royal Navy from the 1970s until the early 1990s...
— 3 boats, 1968–1992 - Swiftsure classSwiftsure class submarineThe Swiftsure class were a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy from the early 1970s until 2010....
— 6 boats, 1971–2010 - Trafalgar classTrafalgar class submarineThe Trafalgar class is a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy. They are a direct follow on from the Swiftsure class and were, until the introduction of the Astute class, the Royal Navy's most advanced nuclear fleet submarines.Seven boats were built and...
— 7 boats, 1981–present - Astute classAstute class submarineThe Astute-class is the latest class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy. The class sets a new standard for the Royal Navy in terms of weapons load, communication facilities and stealth. The boats are being constructed by BAE Systems Submarine Solutions at...
— 7 boats, 2010–present
Ballistic missile
- Resolution classResolution class submarineThe Resolution-class submarine armed with the Polaris missile was the United Kingdom's primary nuclear deterrent from the late 1960s to 1994, when they were replaced by the Vanguard-class submarine carrying the Trident II.-Background:...
— four boats, 1966–1996 - Vanguard classVanguard class submarineThe Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
— 4 boats, 1992–present