Ship - Submarine - HMS Swiftsure - MOD information / heraldic postcard c.1980s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  HMS Swiftsure - Swiftsure Class Fleet Submarine - information about the sub and its heraldic device
• Publisher:  Ministry of Defence Graphics
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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HMS Swiftsure was the lead ship of her class of nuclear fleet submarines built for the Royal Navy. Entering service in 1973, she served until 1992.

Swiftsure was ordered on 3 November 1967, as the first of her class, and laid down at Vickers Armstrongs Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 6 June 1969. She was launched on 7 September 1971 and commissioned on 17 April 1973. The cost of building Swiftsure was £37.1 million.^[1][2]

Swiftsure became famous for her mission to acquire the acoustic signature of the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev. She is said to have discovered an enormous military exercise, possibly the Sever-77 exercise^{[3][unreliable source?]} and upon locating a new unique acoustic sound that indicated the Kiev's presence hid underneath her for several hours, with her raised periscope just 10 feet under the aircraft carrier's hull, allowing the crew to take photos and record the ship's acoustic signature.^[4] This was documented in 2013 as part of the BBC's Cold War season.^[5]

Swiftsure arrived in HMNB Devonport in January 1979 for her first scheduled refit. However due to an industrial dispute^[6] the refit did not begin until April 1980, 15 months after the boat arrived into Devonport. Despite a statement in the House of Commons in mid-November 1981 that the refit would be completed by mid-1982^[7] Swiftsure's refit was eventually completed in March 1983, at a total cost of £85 million.^{[8][unreliable source?]}

Swiftsure was due to enter a second refit in 1992, but instead she was decommissioned that year. The reason for the premature her decommissioning is often cited as pressure hull damage suffered during sea trials although that is now thought to be incorrect; it is believed the reason for the boat's premature decommissioning was due to the finding of cracks in her reactor during a refit. Her nuclear core was safely removed in June 1992.^[9][10

type=printed

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)