Trafalgar class submarine
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Image:Trafalgar class submarine.JPG The Trafalgar class submarines are, until the introduction of the Astute class, the Royal Navy's most advanced nuclear fleet submarines (SSNs).
The Trafalgar class includes seven boats: Trafalgar (S107), Turbulent (S87), Tireless (S88), Torbay (S90), Trenchant (S91), Talent (S92), and Triumph (S93).
It is an attack submarine and is essentially a refinement of the Swiftsure class, designed six years later than its predecessor. The first Trafalgar class submarine was completed in 1983.
The major improvements include a new reactor core and the Type 2020 sonar. Internal layout is almost identical to the Swiftsure, and it is only 2½ metres longer.
Rather than the seven/nine-bladed propeller used by the Swiftsures, Trafalgar class submarines use pump-jet propulsion - a high-pitch, low-revolution propeller which is much quieter but much heavier than conventional propeller designs. Development of this system was not complete in time for installation in the class's name-ship vessel, HMS Trafalgar, and so the pump-jet was first used in the second in the class, HMS Turbulent.
The Trafalgar class was to be replaced by the Future Attack Submarine (FASM), however this project was effectively cancelled in 2001 and replaced by the Maritime Underwater Future Capability. It seems likely that the Astute class will replace the Trafalgar class as well as the Swiftsure class.
General Characteristics
- Builder: Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd
- Displacement: 4,750 tons surfaced, 5,208 tons submerged
- Length: 85.4 meters
- Beam: 9.8 meters
- Draught: 9.5 meters
- Complement: 18 officers, 112 ratings
- Propulsion: 1 x Rolls-Royce PWR1 pressurized water cooled nuclear reactor delivering 15,000 shp for 30 kt max
- Armament: five tubes capable of firing:
- Sensors:
- sonar (bow, flank, active intercept, and towed arrays)
- periscopes (attack and search)
- collision avoidance radar
| Trafalgar-class submarine |
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Trafalgar | Turbulent | Tireless | Torbay | Trenchant | Talent | Triumph |
| List of submarines of the Royal Navy List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy |