![]() HMS Vengeance returning to HMNB Clyde in 2007
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History | |
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Name | HMS Vengeance |
Laid down | 1 February 1993 |
Launched | 19 September 1998 |
Commissioned | 27 November 1999 |
In service | 12 February 2001 |
Homeport | HMNB Clyde |
Motto | Safe by my strength |
Badge | ![]() |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Vanguard-class submarine |
Displacement | 15,900 tonnes, submerged |
Length | 149.9 m (491 ft 10 in) |
Beam | 12.8 m (42 ft 0 in) |
Draught | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | In excess of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), submerged |
Range | Only limited by food and maintenance requirements. |
Complement | 135 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Electronic warfare & decoys |
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Armament |
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HMS Vengeance is the fourth and final Vanguard-class submarine of the Royal Navy.[1] Vengeance carries the Trident ballistic missile, the UK's nuclear deterrent.[2][3]
Vengeance was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd, later BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, was launched in September 1998, and commissioned in November 1999.[4]
Before she was commissioned, the British Government stated that once the Vanguard submarines became fully operational, they would only carry 200 warheads.[citation needed]
Vengeance carries unopened "last instructions" (letters of last resort) of the current British prime minister that are to be used in the event of a national catastrophe or a nuclear strike; this letter is identical to the letters carried on board the other three submarines of the Vanguard class.[5]