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Further Reading

Resolution

In January 1963, the U.K. Defense Committee decided that four FBM submarines should be built, with an option on a fifth which was later canceled. The HMS Resolution (SSBN-01) deployed with POLARIS A3P on its first operational patrol in June 1968. Since 1968 the United Kingdom has deployed a force of four ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) each of 7,500 tonnes displacement, adapted from the then existing Valiant Class SSN, armed with Polaris missiles. This force conducted over 229 consecutive and continuous patrols.

The U.K. POLARIS force was comprised of four SSBNs designed by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. (VSEL), Barrow-in- Furness, and used a U.S. designed missile section. Similar in size to the USS LAFAYETTE, the Royal Navy (RN) POLARIS submarines had the distinctive whale-like hull adopted by the RN for their first-generation SSNs, with the diving planes positioned on either side of the bow rather than on either side of the sail as with U.S. FBM submarines. Powered by the British pressurized water nuclear reactors built by Rolls Royce and Associates, each submarine carried 16 POLARIS A3 missiles. Two of the submarines were built by Vickers Shipbuilding at Barrow and two at Cammell Laird of Birkenhead.

The force operated from a submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland, with an associated Armament Depot at nearby Coulport. Located on the base, which included accommodation and recreational facilities and amenities, was the Royal Navy's POLARIS Weapon System School, commissioned 10 June 1966.

The end of the initial outfitting period was marked on 13 December 1969. At that time, the U.K. had their operating base at Faslane built and all four POLARIS submarines accepted for service. The first U.K. submarine, HMS RESOLUTION, was launched in September 1966 and visited Cape Canaveral in February and early March 1968, where both Port and Starboard crews successfully launched a POLARIS A3 missile into a downrange target area. HMS RESOLUTION made her first deterrent patrol in June 1968. HMS RENOWN was launched in February 1967, HMS REPULSE in November 1967, and HMS REVENGE in March 1968.

The age of the force, and improvements in potential adversaries' capabilities, led the Government to upgrade the Polaris system. The replacement of Polaris with Trident has involved successive Resolution Class boats being retired as the larger Vanguard Class SSBNs entered service.