A Brief History of Trafalgar SSN 

Sounds like something you would hear regarding a Russian submarine

You gave us our language we love you more than you can imagine.

It's bloody good kit, that's why.

@@chico305SIGMA 👍🏼 😘 🇬🇧

@@chico305SIGMA We gave you the master for.your languages and the pump jet propulsor

I was just feeling the same thing! I'd love to see a breakdown of the Astute or Vanguard Class submarines!

I imagine a lot of that money goes on the process and the experts needed.

the real reason why high tolerance parts can't be touched is because if you touch a high tolerance part the part just got bigger and when it cools down it gets smaller metal expands when it's warm and contracts when it's cold so right now you might be aiming for 12 mm somebody touches it and now it's 12.5 mm machining can be a huge bitch sometimes.

@@mrrolandlawrence you're right. It costs a lot of money but doesn't look that great. Ultimately it all gets shoved in a hole in the hull never to be seen again, and gets all rough and tumbled up over years of service. But obviously a cable assembly is less critical than something trying to hold back hundreds of feet of sea water depth. Some parts will need high tolerance but I think his mate was exaggerating, very few parts could be made to super high tolerances in those days and probably the hardest bit is machining the propellers using a multi axis CNC to get the lowest noise

I find that hard to believe. I worked in sub repair and know that a little specifically listed cleaning would remedy that problem. This includes valves used in the reactor compartment. All this time and we haven't had an accident. Another thing to think about if this equipment has such a fine tolerance how do you think it will perform under combat conditions when taking a hit?

@@thorerik678 Well, I only have his word to go on, if you know differently, I'll take your word for it.

Link to Spotify for these rap artists? Definitely want to hear Donk Shop Horses new album.

Well, from the grammar side it would HMS the Trafalgar, so that'be awkward.

@@malkavianstr450 No, it wouldn't.

@@malkavianstr450 "HMS Trafalgar" is correct, as is "The Trafalgar". Anything else is incorrect and usually a sign of someone who really doesn't know that much about the Royal Navy, or just doesn't care enough to use correct grammar.

In my time I never heard anyone say 'the' when referring to any ship or submarine. It was always HMS Vessel name or just vessel name.

I think you could say "The Trafalgar launched tomahawks" similarly "HMS Trafalgar launched tomahawks" or "Trafalgar launched tomahawks".

John watched a programme about the building of the astute. How to build a nuclear submarine.very interesting

@@davidm3maniac201 Extremely complex craft indeed, as are all SSN's to build. There are some interesting ones on American SSN's and Aircraft Carriers as well. Ive never taken an SSN out of build but i took a Type 23 frigate out of build (HMS Argyll), its amazing to watch them join the parts up, that's where accuracy really counts.

Autec was great fun, firing weapons at a stealthy, evasive target. AND then getting the chance to evade torpedoes when on the receiving end. The Autec Range is gigantic and to actually see first hand what these boats could do when pushed through their entire envelope of capability. The only restrictions were own depth limitations, stay above DDSTP and WOW, the roller coaster rides at funfairs were a poor cousin to the real thing. Full power on the reactor and ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM... these boats really did fly, and just like an aircraft, we banked in to the turn. See how a Skimmer does it, they lean outwards. Hard work... and fun, fun, fun!

My time on Tireless was 87\88 (Cold War ASW Ops) and again in 92/94 (Cold War ASW Ops this time a little bit more steely eyed)! She was as quiet as fog over a frozen landscape! She took us into some tight places, and got us out again the other end. And now she sits in Guzz, while the pollies umm and ahh, she rusts away. Tragic really!

She was definitely a very quiet boat and I agree about getting in tight spaces and back out.

No Tea No National Anthem No Union Jack

You try and get permission on youtube in this day and age lil

Steady boy steady

I know a Navy guy I met in the bar, when I was in service with USMC, he has experience firing Tomahawks, SM-2s and SM-6s missiles from an Arleigh Burke. He was an ensign in the CIC

yes correct, I was on Super B from 04 to her end, she was a 2074 boat then with 2007 flank

I imagine the refitted trafalgars must be extremely capable subs, even today. I’d imagine the 2076 must be a pretty impressive bit of kit

2007 suffered badly from OSN. Searcher was much better utilised as a broadband display for the towed array. I wonder how many fumes I breathed in from those paper traces. Under ice, using Searcher as a broadband display, ice noise would drive us nuts and every, tiny little crackle of ice (have a listen to ice cubes fizzing and cracking in a glass of water, then imagine ice 30 feet thick doing the same) would mark as a grade three contact. It would peak at about 3khz and rattle fillings!

Yes we do

The world got a glimpse into ‘the patrol reports that remain locked away in a submarine squadron’s X Registry’. I’ve been involved with other operations that most likely will not see the light of day, take my word for it, during the Cold War in the Arctic, we met the enemy face on. On the transit back to the UK after conducting these operations the boat would be sanitised, any hint of target data, and there was a lot written down with chinagraph pencil on various trafalite tallies (think mini white boards) throughout the control room. All this had to be scrubbed clean, no hint of the boats previous three months on patrol, none. Once we transferred records to a tug that met us at Campbeltown, Scotland, they were locked into a chacon and when on the jetty they were transferred to a baker’s van, I kid you not (the driver and his mate ((Royal Marines)) were in delivery overalls, and they were well armed). The records were then driven to Faslane for the trip down to various intelligence agencies and analysis units in England. Such was the secrecy that we were not allowed to even talk to other crew members not part of the ‘ops departments’ (that was never adhered to) and the same went for crews of other submarines which would be sailing soon to carry out the same type of patrol. Unofficial chats to guys off other boats when they were ‘called around’ for a beer or two in the afternoon. All chat was spoken in hushed tones as ‘the top ten’ was ticked off and ‘hot topic intel’ was passed to the guys who needed it pronto. One of these days the truth will out. Be ready for some ‘EEEEeeeeek did they really do that’ moments!

@@petewilliams7809 Do tell more comrade. Err, I mean old chap.

Imagine if they already have the Spearfish, boom

The old boy at the submarine museum in Portsmouth said that they used the old torpedo because it could punch through the armour plated hull on the Belgrano better than a modern torpedo.

@@jo0ls Nah, the Tigerfish had serious persistent reliability issues throughout it's life. Sub crews and commanders didn't trust it to perform in a pinch.

Close to 500 years of RN history has given us a pretty good pool of names to pick from, and some strong traditions when it comes to naming conventions.

Unlike the USN right?

@@ramal5708 I mean, typically the USN names are cities or states.

@@warner735 and also politicians, which is a dumb idea to name a ship after a politicians.

@@ramal5708 Agreed, the RN seems more creative

Jive, thanks for being so complimentary about my previous life and shipmates. You mention the aggressive attitude of the COs and the tactics he will use to achieve the aim. That attitude permeated right through each boat. The posture of each UK SSN (and our Bombers) from day one right through to day 90 (or more... groan) is 100% focussed on ‘remaining undetected’ and to ‘reduce the target to attack criteria’. Our Skimmers moan when they go into defence watches (6 hours on watch, 6 hours off watch) for a week or two whereas we are ALWAYS 6 on, 6 off. It’s the best system for being able to close up attack teams, conduct underwater looks etc without having shake the other watch. Action stations is different, the whole boat is at ‘diving stations’ then (its highest alert state for safety). HMS Swiftsure underwater looked Kiev in the late 70s (I was 20 years old at the time) in the Barents Sea at ‘attack teams, underwater look stations’... I think I aged ten years after that one. One more thing HMS Trafalgar and HMS Swiftsure were first of class and were fitted with propellers as you said, however they each had a NINE bladed screw. And because of the diameter, 20 feet across, they both had an exceptionally low TPK. The TPK range was 3 to 4, at slow speed, and when new these S&T class SSNs were just a faint rise in background noise, probably not even that! I’ve been on the range at AUTEC when Swiftsure and Churchill fired torpedoes at each other. Zooming all over the range trying to outrun Mk24 Mod2 weapons. Fantastic fun! Keep up the great work in informing ‘civvies’ of the real nuts and bolts of submarine life. Want to know more... see this dotted line................................... all you have to do is commit to service. Go on, do it... you know you want to!

@@petewilliams7809 Indeed as a skimmer and an ex Passive Sonar Director yes we don't do the defence watches you do, but in the Gulf its hardly for a few days or indeed the Falklands. Last time i did Autec was 97 and i was on Trafalgar for a couple of days, very interesting but it re enforced why i never went submariner.

@@bobbyrayofthefamilysmith24 Just take the money from the corrupt people and there would be more than enough to improve everyone's lives, also keeping the armed forces, which by the way are a major employer in every country's economy. Scraping the military goes against what you are trying to achieve.

Yup, watched it and loved every minute of it. Good stuff indeed.

Yes, that was good. Definitely review worthy. 👍🏼 🇬🇧

I watched it and know most of the crew on Triumph which was the host boat in 2011 but what i found most interesting is that the American officer took the boat deep when in close waters with a trawler when RN SOP is to surface the boat as quickly and safely as possible. I'm wandering why we have different SOP's when the USN visit UK waters quite often. I know HMS Trenchant dragged down a trawler a few years ago and thats the reason we surface.

@@Raptorman123 wow I never knew a sub dragged down a trawler. Was anyone killed

@@davidm3maniac201 All 4 crew members of the trawler died in the accident

8degree down angle due to chinstrap sonar array

@@HamishMcIntosh WSC swimming pool.

Was the OA on Spartan in the 90s, took early redundancy in SDR 2 all seatime no shore time and 100 HR weeks alongside was becoming boring

for attacks at range using a data link

I did also hear that there were problems with tactically useing the TASM - apparently one admiral on an exercise authorised a strike against what turned out to be his own ship:-)! With all the improvement in CEC etc that may be much less of a problem now.

@@tomriley5790 ouch. Didnt hear that one, but yeah that would be a quick way to end a career.

But the upside of TASM, it's very stealthy but slow

There's a show on Amazon about it. it's quite old but still good..

To say it breaks a naval officers career is a bit extreme, if they fail perisher there is no reason why they cannot go on to have a successful command career in the surface fleet, and many do - they will just never, ever, command a submarine! Certainly ruthless but I guess it has to be :)

@@BrbWifeYelling that's a good point, I just thought it would be too long winded to say that as well...

@@beardedshooter9540 do you know what it is called?

It's called "How to command a Nuclear submarine"

I would like to think Royal Navy Courage is inspired by more than a threat of punishment, but that’s just my uninformed opinion….never been to Britain or the Navy…..

Yes I was on board for her visit, on watch back aft. Was a bit hot for her back there.

princess Diana first came down the boat in Plymouth and faslane was not a USA hub their base was a few lochs over I know because I served on Trafalgar when she visited the boat

@@Freebird67 I'm saying faslane and Scotland in general. My dad was navy intelligence out of edzel among other places. Thanks for the other info though I guess the tabloids were wrong.

US SSBNs was based at the Holy Loch back in the days...

Not so I was on a Valiant boat when it had a Leak issue

PWR2 was first on Vanguard class.

PWT 1 issues were present on Churchill class, Swiftsure class and Trafalgar class. PWR 2 was fitted to Vanguard class in mid life refit. Power range testing in 5 basin warmed the water well.

@@DavidOwen1978 PWR2 was on Vanguard class from build at VSEL. The protype was also built in Barrow during the early 80s as a module, and taken by barge to Dounreay for extensive trials. Back in the days when the MoD had the money for extensive prototype testing.

Served on warspite submarine

Dreadnought is up there

was working with DTO when she was launched. A fresh faced 21 year old! Retired from the yard in 2018 but still like my fix....

Slightly slower in reality.

the steam leak was primary coolant loop metal fatigue-fracturing in pipework affected the class once they hit approx 20 years old

You've answeed your own questions really. Reverberation is another reason not to transmit much power

Yet, all later boats got pumpjet... I suppose there's a reason for that.

Still called SSN13 whenever I entered anything into the log.

In fairness if you spend a couple of months in a high marine growth area at sea or sit against the wall for a couple of months you get a nice grass skirt. We used to have divers down regularly to give us a clean especially before patrols on Tireless and we were super active.

@@DavidOwen1978 I know the picture, it is Triumph during SMCC (Perisher) after doing a float off

@@DavidOwen1978 Thanks for your service David. Submariners have nerves of steel. My cousin served on HMS Conqueror which he loved.

@@buster105e It's not a "Trafalgar'. The hull form is wrong. That is an "Upholder"

It was a design issue not a crew issue The leak was at a part that could only be seen with mirrors from the decks above so as long as it wasnt a major leak you wouldn't notice it

Definitely boasting. British ships spend a lot more time in rougher waters so you might expect them to have crews better skilled in manoeuvre and tactical engagement in home waters, but not in operational engagement. Just my thought.

Lol, this sounds eerily similar to a guy I know. I hate that guy

@@joshuagill395 A lot of British dudes are alright, but some are insufferable. Same goes with some Americans aswell, I guess each country has their own.

Don't worry, we over here don't like people like that either. He's also an idiot: for one, there's our entire island between the Channel and the Atlantic, and any system that sensitive would surely be overwhelmed with other noise. It's quite possible that British sonar is very good however, as BAE Systems' products are generally recognised as being very good. Though when Jive said the 688 is longer, I did think "well yes, everything is bigger in America". (Though have you seen how tall the Astutes are? I'm amazed our sailors find enough water to submerge them)

I think you encountered a Scotsman. 🤨

cheers dits!!!

No mark 8

@@loyalist5736 unguided though wasn’t it?

@@michaelmulligan0 Yeah unguided. .they were having trouble with Tiger fish but I'm sure the decision to use mark 8 was because of Belgrano had an armoured belt and the sub commander thought Mark 8 was more up to the job there's a video on u tube where you can hear them run to the target and hit it .

I thought that Canada were Looking at New Build Trafalgar Class Subs rather than Second Hand ?.

@@paultanton4307 yeah really think the US was gonna sell ANYONE their subs 😂🤣🤓

@@billhanna2148 What do US subs have to do with anything? He was talking about British subs.

The US has a say because the UK builds nuclear powered submarines under a 1958 Agreement between the 2 countries which gave the UK access to the US reactor technology. Still applies now even though we've moved on to our own designs. Cheers USA!

@@ianmcallister2268 The only reason America gave Britain access to nuclear reactors is because we gave them the finger and built a 1 megaton nuclear bomb in 1957, and the irony Is we designed the bombs that dropped on Japan but America told us to do one end of the war.