| Not many Royal Navy vessels can
claim to have a predecessor which fought at Trafalgar –
HMS Sovereign is an exception.
Commissioned on July 11, 1974, Sovereign is one of the four
remaining Swiftsure class nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines
and is based in Faslane, Scotland.
At 30 years old, she holds the distinction of being the oldest
nuclear-powered submarine still operational and – with
the exception of Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory –
the oldest Royal Navy warship still in commission.
Sovereign is the eighth ship to bear the name from a distinguished
and illustrious list, and many previous Sovereigns have been
Admirals’ flagships which delivered large amounts of
firepower to the enemy
.
The first Sovereign (1486-1526) was a Great Ship of 800 tons,
built under the supervision of famous architect Sir Reginald
Bray, there is reason to believe that she was an experimental
ship in which new features were tested.
A First Rate of 1,522 tons with 100 guns, the career of the
second was full of incident, resulting in a string of battle
honours, but an unlikely ending because of a candle left burning
in the cook’s cabin.
The third, referred to earlier, was a First Rate of 1,883
tons (1786-1844) which served with distinction at the Battle
of Trafalgar.
On this occasion, Sovereign was commanded by Admiral Collingwood,
Nelson’s second in command, who led the second of Nelson’s
two columns which pierced the French line.
In doing so, the ship was first into action at Trafalgar.
It is remarkable that, nearly 200 years after Trafalgar, the
RN still has Nelson’s two biggest and most important
warships from that battle still in commission – albeit
in Sovereign’s case in name only
.
Sovereign is affiliated to the City of Derby, and accepted
the Freedom of the city on behalf of the Submarine Flotilla
in 2002
.
Commanding Officer Cdr Craig Fulton recently accepted the
Submarine Electronic Warfare Records Trophy on behalf of the
Tactical Systems Department
.
The annual trophy is presented to the submarine which has
submitted the best quality electronic warfare records to RAF
Waddington for inclusion on the tri-Service data base.
Currently in a maintenance period, Sovereign is due to complete
Operational Sea Training in spring 2005 and conduct a final
deployment before decommissioning the following year.
In the latest Defence Review the Navy’s hunter-killer
submarine fleet is due to reduce to eight in 2008.
(Ship of the Month September 2004)
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