HMS Revenge (S27) was the fourth of the Royal Navy's Resolution-class submarine ballistic missile submarines.

Construction

The four Resolution-class submarines were ordered on 8 May 1963, with Revenge, the fourth of the class, laid down at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard on 19 May 1965. Construction of the two submarines being built at Lairds (Revenge and HMS Renown (S26)) was much slower than planned, with poor performance by Cammell Laird and in particular its workers to blame. At one stage the Ministry of Defence considered towing the unfinished submarines to Barrow-in-Furness for completion by Vickers-Armstrongs. Revenge was launched on 15 March 1968. She was formally commissioned on 4 December 1969.

Design

Revenge was 425 ft long overall and 360 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 33 ft and a draught of 30 ft. Displacement was 7500 LT surfaced and 8500 LT submerged. A PWR1 pressurised water reactor, designed and built by Rolls-Royce fed steam to geared steam turbines, with the machinery rated at 15000 shp, giving a speed of 25 kn submerged and 20 kn surfaced. A 4000 bhp diesel engine provided auxiliary power. Sixteen tubes for Polaris A3 Submarine-launched ballistic missiles were carried, in two rows of eight. The missiles had a range of 2500 nmi, and each missile could carry three 200 ktonTNT nuclear warheads. Defensive armament consisted of six 21 in torpedo tubes. The ship had a complement of 143 (13 officers and 130 other ranks), with two separate crews in order to maximise time at sea.

Service

Following commissioning, Revenge underwent extensive sea trials and work-up, before sailing to the United States to carry out a test firing of a Polaris missile at the Eastern Test Range off Florida in June 1970. She was marked for disposal in 1992. She is currently being stored pending the identification of a disposal solution for all of the UK's decommissioned nuclear submarines, at Rosyth Dockyard, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. She is docked down for maintenance and re-preservation approximately every 12 years.

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