HMS Swiftsure (S126)

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

HMS Swiftsure was the lead ship of her class of nuclear fleet submarines built for the Royal Navy. Entering service in 1973, she served until 1992.

Cut-away model of HMS Swiftsure
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Swiftsure
Ordered	3 November 1967
Builder	Vickers
Laid down	6 June 1969
Launched	7 September 1971
Commissioned	17 April 1973
Decommissioned	1992
Identification	Pennant number: S126
Fate	Decommissioned
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	Swiftsure-class submarine
Displacement	4,900 tonnes (dived)
Length	82.9 m (272 ft 0 in)
Beam	9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)
Draught	8.5 m (27 ft 11 in)
Speed	In excess of 20 knots (37 km/h), dived
Complement	116 officers and men
Armament	5 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes Spearfish torpedoes Harpoon missiles

Construction and design

Swiftsure was ordered on 3 November 1967, as the first of her class, and laid down at Vickers Armstrongs Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 6 June 1969. She was launched on 7 September 1971 and commissioned on 17 April 1973. The cost of building Swiftsure was £37.1 million.^[1][2]

Service

Swiftsure became famous for her mission to acquire the acoustic signature of the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev. Upon locating a new unique acoustic sound that indicated the Kiev's presence, hid underneath her for several hours, with her raised periscope just 10 feet (3.0 m) under the aircraft carrier's hull, allowing the crew of Swiftsure to take photographs and record the aircraft carrier's acoustic signature.^[3] This was documented in 2013 as part of the BBC's Cold War season.^[4]

Swiftsure arrived in HMNB Devonport in January 1979 for her first scheduled refit. However, due to an industrial dispute^[5] the refit did not begin until April 1980, 15 months after the boat arrived into Devonport. Despite a statement in the House of Commons in mid-November 1981 that the refit would be completed by mid-1982^[6] Swiftsure's refit was eventually completed in March 1983, at a total cost of £85 million.^[7]

Swiftsure was due to enter a second refit in 1992, but instead she was decommissioned that year. The reason for the premature decommissioning is often cited as pressure hull damage suffered during sea trials although that is now thought to be incorrect; it is believed the reason for the boat's premature decommissioning was due to the finding of cracks in her reactor during a refit. Her nuclear core was safely removed in June 1992.

Since 1992, she has been stored afloat in the non-tidal basin at Rosyth dockyard, awaiting dismantling under MoD's Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP). She has undergone periodic dockings for re-preservation and maintenance inspections, the latest from August 2016 onwards. She will be the first, or 'demonstrator' submarine to undergo Initial Dismantling through the SDP.^[7][8] As of 2023, it was reported that the process would take until the end of 2026 to complete.^[9]