HMS Alliance (P417)
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 HMS Alliance on display at Royal Navy Submarine Museum |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1943 Emergency war programme |
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down: | 13 March 1945 |
| Launched: | 28 July 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 14 May 1947 |
| Decommissioned: | 1973, static training boat until August 1979 |
| Status: | Museum ship/memorial since 1981 at Royal Navy Submarine Museum |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,360/1,590 tons (surface/submerged) 1,385/1,620 tons after streamlining |
| Length: | 281 ft 4.75 in |
| Beam: | 22 ft 3 in |
| Draught: | 17 ft |
| Propulsion: | Two 2,150 hp (at 450 rpm) supercharged Vickers 8-cylinder diesel engine, Two 625 hp electric motors for use underwater, driving two shafts |
| Speed: | 18.5/8 knots (surface/submerged) 18.5/10 knots after streamlining |
| Range: | 10,500 miles at 11 knots surfaced 16 miles at 8 knots submerged 90 miles at 3 knots submerged |
| Endurance: | 36 hours submerged at 2.5 knots |
| Test depth: | 500 ft |
| Complement: | 5 officers, 56 ratings (63 ratings after modernisation in 1960) |
| Armament: | Six 21" bow torpedo tubes (including 2 external dry close fit) Four 21" stern torpedo tubes (including 2 external dry close fit) 20 torpedoes carried (externals could not be reloaded at sea) Mark V mines could be launched from the internal tubes External tubes removed during streamlining/modernisation. One 4" Mark XXIII quick firing deck gun on S2 mounting One 20 mm AA Oerlikon 20 mm gun on Mark VII mounting Submarine was briefly fitted with a twin Oerlikon on Mark 12A mounting. All guns removed during streamlining/modernisation. |
HMS Alliance (P147) (pennant number changed in May 1961 to S67) is a Royal Navy A-class, Amphion class or Acheron class submarine, laid down towards the end of the Second World War and completed in 1947. The submarine is the only surviving example of the class, having been a memorial and museum ship since 1981.
The Amphion class submarines were designed for use in the Far East, where the size of the Pacific Ocean made long range, high surface speed and relative comfort for the crew important features to allow for much larger patrol areas and longer periods at sea than British submarines operating in the Atlantic or Mediterranean had to contend with. Alliance was one of the seven A-class boats completed with a snort mast - the other boats all had masts fitted by 1949.
From 9 October 1947 until 8 November the submarine undertook a lengthy experimental cruise in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa to investigate the limits of the snort mast, remaining submerged for 30 days.
Between 1958 and 1960 the submarine was extensively modernised by having the deck gun and external torpedo tubes removed, the hull streamlined and the sail replaced with a larger (26 feet 6 inch high), more streamlined one constructed of aluminium. The purpose of these modifications was to make the submarine quieter and faster underwater. Following the modifications the wireless transmitting aerial was supported on a frame behind the sail; but was later replaced with a whip aerial on the starboard side of the fin which could be rotated hydraulically to a horizontal position.
The original gun access hatch was retained however, allowing Alliance to be briefly equipped with a small calibre deck gun again when serving in the Far East.
In May 1961 the pennant numbers of British submarines were changed so that all surviving submarines completed after the Second World War were now numbered from S01 upwards, and Alliance was given the number S67.
From 1973 until 1979 she was the static training boat at the HMS Dolphin show establishment, replacing HMS Tabard in this role. In August 1979, she was towed to Vosper Ship Repairers Limited's yard at Southampton to have her keel strengthened so that she could be lifted out of the water and preserved as a memorial to those British submariners who have died in service. Since 1981 the submarine has been a museum ship, raised out of the water and on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- John Lambert and David Hill (1986). The submarine Alliance (Anatomy of the ship series). Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-380-X.
- HMS Alliance Submarine Memorial (guidebook).
See HMS Alliance for other ships of this name.
| Amphion-class submarine |
| Acheron | Aeneas | Affray | Alaric | Alcide | Alderney | Alliance | Ambush | Amphion | Anchorite | Andrew | Artemis | Artful | Astute | Auriga | Aurochs |
List of submarines of the Royal Navy |
