Fleet submarines are the nuclear-powered capital ships of the modern Navy. They are the main striking power of the Fleet and are themselves the single most effective anti-submarine weapon available. Fitted with complex computer-assisted sensors and the latest torpedoes and missiles, they can silently shadow a target for long periods at high speed while hundreds of feet below the surface, ready to attack with deadly effectiveness when required.
Following the progress made by the United States in the revolutionary field of nuclear-powered submarine propulsion, a mid-1950s policy decision announced that, instead of developing an all-British submarine, much time and money would be saved by accepting the American lead and taking advantage of US nuclear technology. Therefore, the first British nuclear-powered Fleet submarine, HMS Dreadnought, comprised an American 'kit of parts' in a Vickers-built hull.
HMS DREADNOUGHT
Specially designed to hunt and destroy enemy underwater craft, Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN) 01 Dreadnought was laid down on 12th June, 1959 and launched by Her Majesty the Queen on Trafalgar Day, 21st October 1960. Dreadnought's preliminary trials, which began early in 1962, progressed very satisfactorily - considering that Britain had not built a nuclear-powered submarine before - and she made her first dive, in Ramsden Dock, on 10th January, 1963. At the time of her completion - 17th April, 1963 - she was one of the most formidable attack submarines in the world.
