HMS Courageous (S50)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Courageous.

HMS Courageous (S50) is a decommissioned Churchill-class^[1] nuclear fleet submarine in service with the Royal Navy from 1971. She is now a museum ship managed by the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre.

Decommissioned HMS Courageous
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Courageous
Laid down	15 May 1968
Launched	7 March 1970
Commissioned	16 October 1971
Decommissioned	10 April 1992
Motto	Fortiter in Angustis ("Bravely in straits")
Status	Museum ship; 50°22′51.22″N 4°11′07.05″W
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	Churchill-class submarine
Displacement	4,900 tonnes (submerged)
Length	86.9 m (285 ft 1 in)
Beam	10.1 m (33 ft 2 in)
Draught	8.2 m (26 ft 11 in)
Propulsion	One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h) submerged
Complement	103
Armament	6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes Mark 8 torpedoes Mark 24 Tigerfish torpedoes RN Sub Harpoon missiles

In 2021, plans to set up a Cold War Centre around Courageous entered their first phase of implementation, supported by the National Museum of the Royal Navy.^[2]

Operational history

In 1982, Courageous along with her sister ship, HMS Conqueror, was sent with the British task force to retake the Falkland Islands from the occupying Argentine forces. She returned home later in the year without damage. Courageous was retired from service in 1992.

During the HMNB Devonport Navy Days 2006, one of the members of the team restoring HMS Courageous pointed out that HMS Valiant was one of the first Royal Navy submarines to have her reactor removed. As Valiant had been cosmetically wrecked by this work, HMS Courageous was selected for the museum ship to represent the nuclear submarine fleet of the Royal Navy during the Cold War. Components were removed from HMS Valiant to restore Courageous.^{[citation needed]} HMS Courageous was due to be moved in 2007 from her current berth to a new berth, due to development of the HMNB Devonport area where she resided.