Puneet Varma (Editor)

HMS Superb (S109)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
HMS Superb

Ordered
  
20 May 1970

Commissioned
  
13 November 1976

Construction started
  
16 March 1972

Length
  
83 m

Draft
  
8.5 m

Operator
  
Royal Navy

Laid down
  
16 March 1972

Decommissioned
  
26 September 2008

Launched
  
30 November 1974

Displacement
  
4.9 million kg

Beam
  
9.8 m

マイケル・ボイス、男爵ボイス
Builder
  
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering

HMS Superb was a nuclear-powered fleet submarine of the Swiftsure class serving in the Royal Navy.

She was built by Vickers Shipbuilding Group, now a division of BAE Systems Submarine Solutions. Superb was launched on 30 November 1974 at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 13 November 1976. After being damaged in May 2008 in the Red Sea, she returned to HMNB Devonport where she was decommissioned slightly ahead of schedule on 26 September 2008.

HMS Superb (S109) HMS Superb S109 ShipSpottingcom Ship Photos and Ship Tracker

Operations

She was the first British submarine to visit the Arctic Ocean and sail under the polar ice caps.

HMS Superb (S109) HMS SUPERB S109 Ship Photos

During the Falklands War, Superb was spotted sailing from Gibraltar, which prompted press speculation that she was sailing to the South Atlantic to enforce a maritime exclusion zone. In fact, only Spartan was sailing south at that time but the speculation was useful to promote the apparent threat of the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic and was not corrected by the Navy or Ministry of Defence.

HMS Superb (S109) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Superb operated in the Indian Ocean in 2001, in support of Operation Veritas, part of the War in Afghanistan.

HMS Superb (S109) Swiftsure Class Submarines

In January 2008 a sentry was found sleeping while on watch; the reprimand to the crew was caught on video.

On 26 May 2008 Superb hit an underwater pinnacle in the Red Sea, 80 miles south of the Suez Canal. She remained watertight, and none of the 112 crew were injured; however, she was unable to resubmerge due to damage to her sonar. After undertaking initial repairs at the Souda Bay NATO base on Crete on 10 June 2008, she passed through the Mediterranean, with a pause (at night) some miles off Gibraltar to disembark some less critical crew. Superb then continued back to the UK, arriving at Devonport Dockyard on 28 June 2008. After surveying the damage, the Royal Navy decided to decommission Superb slightly ahead of schedule on 26 September 2008.

Nearly two years after the grounding, Superb's commanding officer at the time of the accident and two other officers were reprimanded for their roles in the collision. All three pleaded guilty to the charges of neglecting to perform their duty in failing to notice that the submarine was travelling towards the pinnacle. Despite the incident, all three officers were still serving in the Royal Navy at the time of the court-martial.

References

HMS Superb (S109) Wikipedia