HMS Vanguard (S28)
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The eleventh HMS ''Vanguard'' of 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 ...
is the lead boat of her class of Trident ballistic missile-armed submarines. The submarine is based at Faslane,
HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
,
Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...
, Scotland. ''Vanguard'' was built at
Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...
by
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construct ...
, later
BAE Systems Submarine Solutions BAE Systems Submarines,BAE Systems Submarine Solutions was split out from BAE Systems Marine and operated as such until January 2012. It was named BAE Systems Maritime - Submarines until 2017 before it became BAE Systems Submarines. is a whol ...
, was launched on 4 March 1992, and commissioned on 14 August 1993 in the presence of Diana, Princess of Wales.


Operational history


Entry into service

The submarine's first commanding officer was Captain David Russell and the senior engineer officer, during build, was Commander James Grant OBE.


Refit

In February 2002, ''Vanguard'' began a two-year refit at HMNB Devonport. The refit was completed in June 2004 and in October 2005, ''Vanguard'' completed her return to service trials (Demonstration and Shakedown Operations) with the firing of an unarmed Trident missile. During this refit, ''Vanguard'' was boarded by a pair of anti-nuclear protesters who spent half an hour on board before being challenged. They were charged with damaging a fence which they cut to access the submarine.


Collision with ''Le Triomphant''

On 4 February 2009, ''Vanguard'' collided with the French submarine in the Atlantic. On February 6 the French Ministry of Armed Forces reported that '' Triomphant'' had "collided with an immersed object". The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence initially would not comment on the incident, but was confirmed on February 16 by
First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed Fo ...
Sir Jonathon Band. ''Vanguard'' had returned to
HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
under her own power two days prior. Band stated that the collision had occurred at slow speed, and that there had been no injuries. However, both vessels had been damaged. ''Vanguard'' received damage to the outer casing in the area of the missile compartment, requiring repairs.


Overhaul and refueling

In January 2012 radiation was detected in the PWR2 test reactor's coolant water, caused by a microscopic breach in fuel cladding. This discovery led to ''Vanguard'' being scheduled to be refuelled in its next "deep maintenance period", due to last 3.5 years from 2015, and contingency measures being applied to other ''Vanguard'' and submarines, at a cost of £270 million. This was not revealed to the public until 2014. Vanguard eventually returned to active service in July 2022 after spending almost 7 years undergoing refit. On 16 August 2022 ''Vanguard'' was rededicated into the Royal Navy in a ceremony held at HMNB Devonport, and on 9 May 2023 she left for sea.


Glued bolts during overhaul

In February 2023, 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 ...
began investigating claims that broken bolts for the reactor chamber on ''Vanguard'' had insufficiently been repaired using glue, during her seven year refit. After the heads of several bolts had been sheared off after being over-tightened, workers for defence firm Babcock had allegedly glued the heads on the bolts back on, rather than completely replacing the bolts. The glued bolts held insulation in place on the coolant pipes for the nuclear reactor, and were found shortly prior to activation of the reactor. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace demanded a meeting and “assurances about future work” after The Sun reported on the issue. Babcock is one of the United Kingdom's largest defence contractors, with contracts for the maintenance of both the Royal Navy's ''Astute''-class and ''Vanguard''-class submarine fleets. Labour Party
shadow secretary of state for defence The Shadow Secretary of State for Defence is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Defence and the department, the Ministry of Defence. The post is currently held by John Healey. Shadow S ...
John Healey stated that "''the Defence Secretary must make sure contractors are delivering maintenance to this critical capability safely, on time and on-budget.''".


See also

*
Letters of last resort The letters of last resort are four identically-worded handwritten letters from the prime minister of the United Kingdom to the commanding officers of the four British ballistic missile submarines. They contain orders on what action to take if ...
* List of submarines of the Royal Navy * List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy * Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom *
Royal Navy Submarine Service The Royal Navy Submarine Service is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. It is sometimes known as the Silent Service, as submarines are generally required to operate undetected. The service operates six fleet submarines ( SSNs) ...
* Submarine-launched ballistic missile * Trident nuclear programme


References


External links


Royal Navy HMS ''Vanguard''
(royalnavy.mod.uk) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanguard (S28) Vanguard-class submarines Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1992 ships Submarines of the United Kingdom 1992 in England