HMS Tireless (S88)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Tireless (S88) at the North Pole |
|
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | July 5, 1979 |
| Laid down: | June 6, 1981 |
| Launched: | March 17, 1984 |
| Commissioned: | October 5, 1985 |
| Status: | active in service |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Surfaced: 4,740 tons Dived: 5,208 tons |
| Length: | 280.1 ft (85.4 m) |
| Beam: | 32.1 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draught: | 31.2 ft (9.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Rolls-Royce PWR1 nuclear reactor 2 × GEC turbines 1 × shaft pump jet 15,000 hp (11 MW) motor for emergency drive emergency retractable propellor 2 × W H Allen turbo generators 2 MW 2 × Paxman diesel alternators 2,800 hp (2.1 MW) |
| Speed: | Dived: 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Complement: | 18 officers 112 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: | Ferranti/Gresham Dowty DCB/DCG Type 2072 hull-mounted flank array passive sonar Plessey Type 2020 or Marconi/Plessey Type 2074 hull-mounted active and passive search and attack sonar Ferranti Type 2046 towed array passive search sonar Thomson Sintra Type 2019 PARIS or Thorn EMI 2082 passive intercept and ranging sonar Marconi Type 2077 short range active classification sonar Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 I band navigation radar Pilkington Optronics CK34 search periscope Pilkington Optronics CH84/CM010 attack periscope BAE Systems SMCS from January 1999 Type 2074 sonar from January 1999 |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: | 2 × SSE Mk8 launchers for Type 2066 and Type 2071 torpedo decoys RESM Racal UAP passive intercept CESM Outfit CXA SAWCS decoys from 2002 |
| Armament: | 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes Spearfish torpedoes (originally Tigerfish torpedoes) with 20 reloads UGM-84 Harpoon submarine-launched cruise missile Mines Spearfish from January 1999 UGM-109 Tomahawk scheduled for 2006 |
HMS Tireless (S88), a Trafalgar-class submarine, is the second submarine of the Royal Navy to bear this name. She was launched in March 1984 sponsored by Mrs Sue Squires, wife of Admiral 'Tubby' Squires, and commissioned in October 1985.
Over the next six years, Tireless completed numerous exercises and visits around the world, including a trip to the Arctic in 1991. Five years after that, she entered refit in early 1996, and returned to sea in 1999.
On 12 May 2000 Tireless suffered a loss of coolant accident, and put into the port of Gibraltar for what was hoped would be quick repairs to a minor crack in a coolant pipe. However, the damage transpired to be more extensive that was first hoped, and the boat remained at Gibraltar, creating diplomatic tensions between Spain and Britain, until she left on 2 May 2001, nearly a year later following [1]. During that year, all Trafalgar-class submarines were inspected for similar problems.
On 19 April 2004, Tireless and USS Hampton (SSN-767) rendezvoused under the Arctic ice and surfaced together at the North Pole.
Tireless again angered Spain in 2004 when the boat put into Gibraltar from 9 July to 15 July for what were explained as "technical reasons." Britain assured Spain that the port call was unrelated to the British celebrations, on 21 July, of the 300th anniversary of the capture of Gibraltar from Spain.
See HMS Tireless for other ships of the same name.
| Trafalgar-class submarine |
|
Trafalgar | Turbulent | Tireless | Torbay | Trenchant | Talent | Triumph |
| List of submarines of the Royal Navy List of submarine classes of the Royal Navy |
