Dreadnought Class

This was Britain's first nuclear powered submarine.

'Fleet Submarine' (SSN).

The contract to build Dreadnought was given to Vickers who was by far the most experienced submarine builder for the Royal Navy, Dreadnought being the 281st submarine to be built at Barrow.   The building of the reactor was placed with Rolls Royce.

An agreement was struck between Earl Mountbatten and the Americans to purchase a complete nuclear power plant including the reactor, from the Americans after the development of the reactor at Dounreay had proved to be too slow.

The plant would be of the same type as used in USS Skipjack this meant in reality that the front half of Dreadnought would be British and the after part would be wholly American.   Dreadnought retained diesel engines, snort mast and batteries as an auxiliary power for manoeuvring on the surface and for short passages.

1 Built

Submarine	Builder	Built
Dreadnought	Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.	1963

Technical Information

Displacement (tons):	3,556 sf 4,064 sm
Length (ft):	265.5 oa
Breadth (ft)	32.25
Draught/Height (ft):	26
Machinery:	1 x S5W PWR, 15,000 hp Geared steam turbines, one shaft. Emergency drive batteries and electric motor.
Speed (kts):	25 sf 30 sm
Oil Supply (tons):	na
Armament:	6 x 21 inch forward tubes.
Range:	na
Complement:	11 Officers and 77 Others.
sm = submerged, sf = surfaced, oa = overall, hp = horsepower, na = not available.

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H.M. Submarine Dreadnought.

Type:	'Fleet Submarine' SSN
Class	Dreadnought Class
Pennant No.:	S101
Builder	Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.
Laid Down:	12th June 1959.
Launched	21st October 1960.
Commissioned:	17th April 1963.
Commander:	1963 - Cdr. B.F.P. Samborne. 1970 - Cdr A.G. Kennedy.
Complement:	11 Officers and 77 Ratings.
Fate:	Carried out a sustained high speed run to Singapore in 1967.  The journey consisted of 4,640 miles surfaced and 26,545 miles submerged. Her first commission came to an end on 30th April 1968. She was refitted at Rosyth and recommissioned on 10th September 1970. During this second commission she surfaced at the North Pole on the 3rd March 1971 whilst under the command of Commander A.G. Kennedy. By the latter 1970's Dreadnought started to show signs of technical problems and  was withdrawn from service under the 1981 defence review. She was  laid up at Chatham and when this base was closed down in 1982 she was towed to Scotland on 13th April 1983.

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