The ''Porpoise'' class was an eight-boat
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
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of
diesel-electric submarines operated by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. This class was originally designated patrol submarines, then attack. They were the first conventional British submarines to be built after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Their design was, in many ways, influenced by the German World War II-era
Type XXI U-boat
Type XXI submarines were a class of German diesel–electric '' Elektroboot'' (German: "electric boat") submarines designed during the Second World War. One hundred and eighteen were completed, with four being combat-ready. During the war only t ...
s.
Design
The ''Porpoise''-class submarines were larger but shorter than their
T-class predecessors and used a much improved steel known as UXW.
[''Rebuilding the Royal Navy : Warship Design Since 1945'', D. K. Brown and George Moore, Chatham Publishing, 2003, pp.114–115] This, and improved design and construction techniques allowed much deeper diving. It was found in tests that the unusually long engine room was liable to collapse, so there were extra large frames in this section, which proved to be something of an operational inconvenience.
Designed with a top speed of , the boats were capable of , or once fitted with silenced propellers. However, quieter running was felt to be a positive trade-off for the reduced speed. The ''Porpoise'' class were exceptionally quiet underwater, more so than their
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
counterparts and far more so than the Soviet s.
This was in part due to careful attention to detail in the mounting of machinery, and advances made in propeller design to prevent
cavitation. Initially, the silenced propellers actually set up a distinctive resonant "singing". However, grooves were cut into the propellers and injected with a damping filler which cured the problem; ''Rorqual'' was later able to surface undetected off the
Statue of Liberty.
The
silent running abilities made their sonar equipment particularly effective.
Each submarine's armament consisted of eight
21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; six in the bow, and two in the stern. Initially, up to 30 Mark 8 or Mark 23 torpedoes were carried, although these were replaced in the 1970s by the
Mark 24 Tigerfish
The Mark 24 Tigerfish was a heavyweight acoustic homing torpedo used by the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1980s and 90s. Conceptual development dates to the mid-1950s, and formally started in 1959 with a target introduction date in 1969. A lengthy ...
torpedo. The class were also the first since the World War I-era
R class to not carry a deck gun.
The ''Porpoise''s were far more capable than previous submarine classes in operating for prolonged periods, thanks to much improved air recirculation and cleaning systems. The class also performed excellently in clandestine operations, such as surveillance and inserting special forces.
The first ''Porpoise''-class boats were launched in 1958 during the ever-increasing threat of the Soviet Union's submarine fleet. The ''Porpoise''-class boats were all decommissioned by the 1980s. The submarines, which were almost identical to the ''Porpoise''s, and the first of which was commissioned in 1961, survived their predecessor only a little longer, all being decommissioned in the early 1990s.
Boats in the class
See also
*
List of submarines of the Royal Navy
References
External links
Battleships-Cruisers.co.uk's page of photographs of ''Porpoise'' Class submarinesSubmariners Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Porpoise-Class Submarine
Porpoise