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| History | |
|---|---|
 UK | |
| Name | HMS Superb |
| Operator | Royal Navy |
| Ordered | 20 May 1970 |
| Builder | Vickers |
| Laid down | 16 March 1972 |
| Launched | 30 November 1974 |
| Commissioned | 13 November 1976 |
| Decommissioned | 26 September 2008 |
| Homeport | Faslane |
| Motto | With Strength and Courage |
| Nickname(s) | Super B |
| Status | Decommissioned, at Devonport |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Swiftsure-class submarine |
| Displacement | 4,900 tonnes (dived) |
| Length | 82.9 metres |
| Beam | 9.8 metres |
| Draught | 8.5 metres |
| Propulsion | One Rolls-Royce pressurised water nuclear reactor (PWR1) |
| Speed | In excess of 20 knots (37 km/h), dived |
| Complement | 116 officers and men |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes Spearfish torpedoes RN Sub Harpoon missiles |
HMS Superb (S109) is a nuclear powered fleet submarine of the Swiftsure class serving in the Royal Navy.
She was built by Vickers Shipbuilding Groups, now a division of BAE Systems Submarine Solutions. HMS Superb was launched on November 30, 1974 at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and commissioned into the Royal Navy on November 13, 1976.
In May 2008 Superb was damaged hitting an underwater pinnacle in the Red Sea, she returned (surfaced) to Devonport, where she remained until her decommissioning on 26 September 2008.
Operations
She was the first British submarine to visit the Arctic Ocean and sail under the polar ice caps.
During the Falklands War, Superb was spotted sailing from Gibraltar, which prompted press speculation that she was sailing to the South Atlantic to enforce a maritime exclusion zone. In fact, only HMS Spartan was sailing south at that time but the speculation was useful to promote the apparent threat of the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic and was not corrected by the Navy or MoD.
In support of the war against terror in 2001, HMS Superb operated in the Indian Ocean.
In 2007, Superb successfully completed training manoeuvres off the Scottish coast, engaging with HMS Daring, a brand new Type 45 destroyer.
In January 2008 a sentry was found sleeping while on watch, the reprimand to the crew was caught on video..
On 26 May 2008, the Superb hit an underwater pinnacle in the Red Sea, 80 miles south of the Suez Canal.
She remained watertight, and none of the 112 crew were injured, however she was unable to resubmerge due to damage to her sonar.
After undertaking initial repairs at the Souda Bay NATO base on Crete on 10 June 2008, she passed through the Mediterranean, with a pause (at night) some miles off Gibraltar to disembark some less critical crew.
Superb then continued back to the UK, arriving at Devonport Dockyard on 28 June 2008 where she remains.
It was revealed in July 2008 that the damage was more widespread than initially reported, and was not limited to the sonar equipment but included serious hull damage. She was approching the end of her service and was already planned to be decommissioned in 2008, so she saw no further service after her return to the UK.
Crest and Affiliations
Superb's official crest depicts a heraldic lion with an anchor superimposed. This was the family crest of Sir Richard Keats who commanded a previous vessel of the name during the Napoleonic wars. However, throughout the Navy she is known as Super B, and there is an unofficial crest depicting a superhero bumblebee.
Superb is affiliated with The Royal Dragoon Guards.
References
- News : HMS Superb : Swiftsure Class : Fleet Submarines (SSN) : Submarine Service : Operations and Support : Royal Navy
- "MoD acts over submarine incident". BBC. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- "UK submarine hits Red Sea rocks". BBC. 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
- "Superb submarine's final service". BBC. 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
External links
| Swiftsure-class submarines | |
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