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Submarines1993–present
Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine
Vanguard-class submarine is a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. It was built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering , Barrow-in-Furness , England.
United KingdomVickers Shipbuilding and Engineering , Barrow-in-Furness , England
Royal Navy
Resolution class
Dreadnought class
£ 12.15 billion (1995) (equivalent to £ 23.83 billion in 2024) for 4 units £ 3.04 billion (1995) (equivalent to £ 5.96 billion in 2024) per unit
1986–1999
1993–present
4
4
Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine
Submerged: 15,900 t (15,600 long tons; 17,500 short tons)
149.9 m (491 ft 10 in)
12.8 m (42 ft 0 in)
12 m (39 ft 4 in)
1 × Rolls-Royce PWR2 nuclear reactor , 2 × GEC turbines; 27,500 shp (20.5 MW) 1 × shaft, pump jet propulsor 2 × auxiliary retractable propulsion motors 2 × Allen turbo generators (6 MW) 2 × Paxman diesel alternators; 2,700 shp (2.0 MW)
Over 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), submerged
Limited only by food and mechanical components
135
BAE Systems SMCS Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 I-band navigation radar Thales Underwater Systems Type 2054 composite sonar suite comprising: Marconi / Ferranti Type 2046 towed array sonar Type 2043 hull-mounted active and passive search sonar Type 2082 passive intercept and ranging sonar Pilkington Optronics CK51 search periscope Pilkington Optronics CH91 attack periscope
Two SSE Mk10 launchers for Type 2066 and Type 2071 torpedo decoys RESM Racal UAP passive intercept
4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes for: Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes 16 × ballistic missile tubes for: Lockheed Trident II D5 SLBMs with up to 12 MIRVed Holbrook Mk-4A (100 kt TNT ) nuclear warheads each
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Displacement 15,900 tonnes
Length 149.9 metres
Speed 25 knots
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Sept 2026 | 149.9 m | United Kingdom Armed Forces | superseded |
| 29 Sept 2026 | 149.9 m | United Kingdom Armed Forces | approved |
Vanguard-class submarine equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
United KingdomRoyal Navy exact named equipment holdings of Vanguard,. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only, not a national or parent-force total or combat-readiness measure. Source role(s): SUBMARINES / SSBN. No heading aggregate, carried armament, crew, payload, factory production or future order count inherited. The leading printed inventory count is retained; separately stated extra reserve, nonoperational or repair quantities inside parentheses are not added to it and remain verbatim in the excerpt. Source parentheses retain employment, lease, reporting designation, alternate model, or included-subset scopes exactly. Own fetched primary and alternate/model identity declarations are retained. Numbers inside an included subset are part of the printed count and are never added again; no sibling or parent specification is copied.