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Churchill class submarine HMS Conqueror
Class overview
Builders	Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Valiant-class
Succeeded by	Swiftsure-class
In service	1970s - 1990s
Completed	3
Retired	Churchill, Conqueror, Courageous
General characteristics
Displacement	4,900 tonnes
Length	86.9 m
Beam	10.1 m
Draught	8.2 m
Propulsion	One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h) submerged
Range	Unlimited, except by food supplies
Complement	103
Armament	list error: <br /> list (help) 6 x 533 mm tubes capable of firing: Mark 8 torpedoes Tigerfish torpedoes RN Sub Harpoon Missiles

The three Churchill-class submarines were nuclear powered fleet submarines which served with the Royal Navy from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The lead ship was named for the former British Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. The Churchill class was based on the older Valiant-class, but featured many internal improvements.

The Churchills carried a crew of 103 and had a full load displacement of 4,900 tons whilst dived. They were 86.9 metres long, had a beam of 10.1 metres and a draught of 8.2 metres. Their single pressurized water cooled reactor supplied steam to two English Electric geared turbines, producing a total of 20,000 shp for the single shaft and resulting in a maximum of 28 knots submerged. One Kelvin Type 1008 surface-search radar was fitted. The ships were built with a Type 2001 sonar array, but this was replaced in the late 1970s with a Type 2020 array and a Type 2026 towed array. Weapons included Mark 8 torpedoes, Mark 24 Tigerfish torpedoes, and Sub-Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Six 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes fired from the bow.

Like all nuclear powered submarines the Churchill class could remain submerged almost indefinitely, with supplies of food being the only limiting factor.

HMS Churchill evaluated both the American Mark 48 torpedo and the UGM-84 Harpoon missile, though only the latter was adopted by the Royal Navy. She was decommissioned in 1990 and is laid up at Rosyth awaiting disposal.

HMS Conqueror was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentina cruiser ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War. Although she did not fire again during the war, she did provide valuable help to the British task force by using her monitoring equipment to track Argentine aircraft departing the mainland. After the war Conqueror returned to Faslane; the sinking of the Belgrano had provoked some controversy in Britain and Conqueror's crew were criticised for flying the Jolly Roger as she returned to port, a customary act of Royal Navy submarines after a mission on which a "kill" has been scored. As of 2006, she was the only nuclear powered submarine to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes. She was decommissioned in 1990 and is laid up at Devonport awaiting disposal. The Conqueror's periscope can be viewed at the Royal Navy's museum in Portsmouth.

In 1981, HMS Courageous became the first British submarine to carry the Sub-Harpoon missile. She was decommissioned in 1992 and is at Devonport Dockyard serving as a museum ship.

• Royal Navy submarines
• Submarine classes
• Churchill class submarines
• Nuclear-powered ships