Trafalgar

The Trafalgar class is a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines that served with the Royal Navy. These submarines were designed for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence gathering, and land attack missions.

Developed during the late Cold War as a successor to the Swiftsure class, the Trafalgar class was designed with advanced acoustic silencing technologies, including anechoic coatings, to counter increasingly quiet Soviet submarines. The lead vessel, HMS Trafalgar, entered service with the Royal Navy in 1983, initiating a class of seven hulls built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. During their service, these submarines saw active combat, notably launching Tomahawk cruise missiles during operations in Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003, and Libya in 2011. While most of the class has been decommissioned and replaced by the newer Astute class, the final remaining vessel, HMS Triumph, continues to operate ahead of its planned retirement in the mid-2020s.