British Service
The submarines entered service from 1990 to 1993. Initially they were unable to actually fire torpedoes and the first three were refitted in 1992 and 1993 to have this fixed at a cost of some £9 million. They were operating from HMS Dolphin (at Gosport) but with only 4 submarines the base was deemed uneconomic and they transferred to Devonport Naval Base.
In their short period in service, the class operated mostly in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and UK waters. The exception was Unicorn, which completed a 6 month deployment east of Suez completing operations and exercises in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean and in the Persian Gulf. Her return in October 1994 to decommission marked the end of service of this class, following a defence review by the UK government that decided to maintain an all-nuclear powered submarine fleet rather than a mix of diesel with fewer nuclear submarines.
Read more about this topic: Upholder/Victoria Class Submarine
Famous quotes containing the words british and/or service:
“We may be scum, but at least we’re la crème de la scum.”
—Report on the British royal family. quoted in Sunday Times (London, Nov. 13, 1988)
“Civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind. Why this has to happen, we do not know; the work of Eros is precisely this.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)