HMS Warspite (S103): One Hundred and Eleven Days Beneath the Waves

Barrow-Built

HMS Warspite was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow, ordered on 12 December 1962, laid down on 10 December 1963 and launched on 25 September 1965 by Mary Wilson, wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, entering service on 18 April 1967 as Britain's third nuclear-powered submarine and the second of the Valiant class.

A Cold War Collision

In October 1968, while conducting surveillance operations, Warspite collided with the stern of a Soviet Echo II-class submarine, damaging her own fin, an alarming close encounter typical of the cat-and-mouse intelligence-gathering that defined so much Cold War submarine activity, carried out at real risk to both crews involved.

A Dangerous Fire

On 2 May 1976, Warspite suffered a serious fire in her diesel generator room while alongside in Liverpool, with dense smoke filling the aft end of the submarine for some four and a half hours before civilian firefighters helped bring it under control.

Her crew's response to the emergency was serious enough to earn gallantry awards, a genuine testament to the discipline and courage required to fight a fire in the confined spaces of a submarine.

A Record-Breaking Patrol

Following the Falklands War, Warspite undertook the longest submerged submarine patrol in history to that point, spending 111 days entirely underwater between 25 November 1982 and 15 March 1983, covering 57,085 kilometres. Notably, she was commanded at one stage by Sandy Woodward, who would go on to lead the British battle group during the Falklands War itself and eventually rise to the rank of admiral.

The End of Her Service

HMS Warspite was decommissioned in 1991 due to mechanical failure associated with her reactor, and remains today laid up afloat at Devonport Dockyard, awaiting the disposal facilities needed to deal with her radioactive components, a long wait for a boat whose own patrols had once tested the very limits of submarine endurance.