HMS Vanguard — Royal Navy Trident Submarine Model, 30 in
HMS Vanguard — Royal Navy Trident Submarine Model, 30 in
How big is it?
Length about 76 cm / 30.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 30 in / 76 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM426
Britain's current nuclear deterrent, at 30 inches.
Specification
- 30 inches
- Handcrafted hull with fin and control surface detail
- Missile compartment casing, hydroplanes and pump-jet detail
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The boat
Commissioned in 1993, Vanguard is the first of four submarines carrying Trident missiles. At least one is on patrol at every moment, and has been since 1969 across two generations of boat.
In February 2009 she collided underwater in the Atlantic with the French Le Triomphant — two ballistic missile submarines, both armed, neither of which had detected the other. Both were doing exactly what they were designed to do, which is be undetectable, and each succeeded against the other. Both limped home damaged.
Aboard each boat is a handwritten letter from the Prime Minister, kept in a safe inside a safe, containing instructions for the commanding officer should Britain be destroyed and no order ever arrive. Each letter is destroyed unread when a Prime Minister leaves office.