theCHURCHILL CLA
IN THE annals of submarine warfare, only one raider of the deep McGeoch, the wife of one of the Silent Service’s doyens, Vice
has torpedoed a ship in anger since 1945. Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch, performed the honours as the 3,500-
That boat was HMS Conqueror, the second of three Churchill- ton vessel slipped into the Mersey for the first time.
class hunter-killer submarines ordered by the Navy in the late It was not until November 1971 that Conqueror was
1960s to seek – and destroy – enemy submarines on the commissioned, by which time the third of the Churchill trio,
prowl. HMS Courageous, was already in service.
It was her action against a surface ship in the South Once in the bosom of the Fleet, the boat was quickly
Atlantic one afternoon in May 1982 for which Conqueror put to work.
will always be remembered, however. In the first six months of her life alone she sailed 30,000
The sinking of the obsolete Argentine cruiser General miles on patrol in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Belgrano is regarded as one of the key flashpoints in the In the twilight months of her life two decades later she
Falklands war – and has been hotly debated ever since Cdr returned to the Falklands for the first time since 1982, part of
Chris Wreford-Brown sent a trio of venerable Mk8 torpedoes a 101-day deployment in the North and South Atlantics.
racing towards the enemy ship. Among her final duties was to teach the next generation
It prompted a triumphalist headline in The Sun – ‘Gotcha’ – a of submarine commanders the art of underwater warfare on the
myriad of conspiracy theories and parliamentary rows. legendary ‘Perisher’ course.
But in the Silent Service, it is regarded as a textbook example of All three Churchills were paid off in the early 1990s – victims of the
dispatching an enemy warship. Her crew proudly flew the submariners’ ‘Options for Change’ shake-up of the Armed Forces; Conqueror was
unofficial battle standard, the Jolly Roger, when they returned from the the first to go on August 2 1990.
Falklands to mark her sinking of the Belgrano. A couple of months later she was moved from Faslane to Devonport
It was not for this reason that she was built. The Churchills were for de-storing and laying up; she was serenaded down the Clyde
children of the Cold War, designed to find and kill Russian submarines, by a volunteer band... and welcomed off Plymouth by Greenpeace
particularly strategic missile boats, in the event of conflict with protesters who tried (but failed) to disrupt her final entry.
the Soviet Union. Conqueror’s younger sister serves as a museum in Devonport, while
Conqueror was laid down at Cammell Laird’s yard in Conqueror’s periscope and captain’s cabin can be found on display at
Birkenhead in December 1967. Eighteen months later, Lady the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport.
1. Propeller
2. Stabiliser fi n
3. Upper rudder
4. Aft anchor & overtaking light
5. Hydroplane gear ram 27. Type 2001 stern scanner
6. Steering gear ram 28. Overtaking light
7. Shaft 29. Diesel exhaust mast
8. Aft trim tank 30. Snort induction mast
9. Propulsion motor 31. SHF/DF mast
10. Clutch 32. ALN communication mast
46. Vent damper recess
11. Aft escape tower 33. Search periscope
47. Cooling coil compartment
12. Motor room 34. Attack periscope
48. Lower accommodation deck
13. Secondary propulsion motor (lowered) 35. AKU radar mast
49. Diesel oil fuel tank
14. Store room 36. Yellow fl ashing light and
50. D tank
15. Main gear case midship steaming light
51. Dry provision store No.1
16. Main machinery space 37. Bathythermograph type 2004
52. Junior ratings’ mess
17. Machinery compartment hatch 38. Oil fuel expansion tank
53. Control room hatch
18. Manoeuvring room 39. Ventilation exhaust mast
54. Sonar room
19. Main steam pipe 40. Type 197 hydrophone
55. Galley
20. Diesel generator room 41. Siren
56. Refrigerator machinery compartment
21. Turbo-generator room 42. Rotation transducer
57. Garbage ejector
22. Reactor compartment 43. Conning tower
58. Wardroom
23. Steam generator 44. Control room
59. Senior ratings’ mess
24. Reactor tunnel 45. Hydroplane and steering
60. Cold room
25. Diesel exhaust pipe console
61. Reserve hydraulic tank
26. ALK fl oat
62. Fresh water tank
63. Sonar console space
64. Wine locker
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