HMS ''Courageous'' (S50) is a decommissioned nuclear fleet submarine in service with the Royal Navy from 1971. She is now a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

managed by the Devonport Naval Heritage Centre. In 2021, plans to set up a Cold War Centre around ''Courageous'' entered their first phase of implementation, supported by the

National Museum of the Royal Navy The National Museum of the Royal Navy was created in early 2009 to act as a single non-departmental public body for the museums of the Royal Navy. With venues across the United Kingdom, the museums detail the history of the Royal Navy operating o ...

Operational history

In 1982, ''Courageous'' along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, , was sent with the British task force to retake the Falkland Islands from the occupying Argentine forces. She returned home later in the year without damage. ''Courageous'' was retired from service in 1992. During the

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roy ...

Navy Days 2006, one of the members of the team restoring HMS ''Courageous'' pointed out that HMS ''Valiant'' was one of the first Royal Navy submarines to have her reactor removed. As ''Valiant'' had been cosmetically wrecked by this work, HMS ''Courageous'' was selected for the

to represent the nuclear submarine fleet of the Royal Navy during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Components were removed from HMS ''Valiant'' to restore ''Courageous''. HMS ''Courageous'' was due to be moved in 2007 from her current berth to a new berth, due to development of the HMNB Devonport area where she resided.

References

Cited footnotes

Cited texts

* HMS ''Courageous'': A Cold War Veteran. Published by the Courageous Society 2008.

External links

HMS ''Courageous'' Society website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courageous (S50) Churchill-class submarines Museum ships in the United Kingdom Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1970 ships