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The ''Swiftsure'' class was a class of nuclear-powered fleet attack submarines in service with the Royal Navy from the early 1970s until 2010. Six boats were built and commissioned. ''Swiftsure'' was decommissioned in 1992 due to damage suffered to her pressure hull during trials. ''Splendid'' followed in 2004 after defence cuts caused a reduction in the size of the RN submarine fleet. ''Spartan'' was decommissioned in January 2006, with ''Sovereign'' following on 12 September 2006. ''Superb'' was decommissioned on 26 September 2008. The remaining boat in the class, ''Sceptre'', was decommissioned in December 2010.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 03 Mar 2009 (pt 0014) )〕 They are being replaced by the ''Astute''-class submarines. A few were upgraded with the capability to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles in addition to their original armaments of torpedoes, mines and anti-ship missiles. They were also the first class of Royal Navy submarines to be built with shrouded pump-jet propulsors.〔 ==Design History== The ''Dreadnought'', ''Valiant'' and ''Churchill'' classes all had a "whale-shaped hull", of "near-perfect streamlining giving maximum underwater efficiency". The hulls were of British design, "based on the pioneering work of the US Navy in ''Skipjack'' and ''Albacore''."〔Blackman, Raymond VB, ''Jane's Fighting Ships, 1966-67'', pub Sampson Low Marston & Co Ltd, 1966, page 279.〕 The hull of the ''Swiftsure'' was a different shape and maintained its diameter for a much greater length than previous classes.〔 Compared with the ''Valiant''s the ''Swiftsure''s were 13 feet〔Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, ''Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines'', pub Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-2781-4 pages 181-4.〕 "shorter with a fuller form, with the fore-planes set further forward, with one less torpedo tube and with a deeper diving depth."〔 A second major change was in propulsion. Rather than the seven/nine-bladed propeller used by the previous classes, all but the first of the ''Swiftsure''-class submarines used a shrouded pump-jet propulsor.〔 The prototype propulsor had powered the ''Churchill''.〔Hool, Jack, and Nutter, Keith, ''Damned Un-English Machines, a history of Barrow-built submarines'', pub Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-2781-4 page 180.〕 It is not clear why the ''Swiftsure'' was the only one of the class not fitted with a propulsor.〔 The propulsor was perhaps as much as 50% more efficient than a propeller, producing the same speed at lower revolutions, thus reducing the noise signature. In addition all pipework connections to equipment on the main machinery raft had expansion/flexible coupling connections, which also reduced noise. The US Navy secured a licence to copy the main shaft flexible coupling arrangement in US-built submarines.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Swiftsure-class submarine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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