HMS Resolution (S22)
HMS "Resolution" (S22) was the first of the Royal Navy's ballistic missile submarines. Construction. Ordered in May 1963, she was built by Vickers Armstrong at a cost of £40.2m. The keel was laid down on 26 February 1964 by the Director General Ships, Sir Alfred Sims, and the launch was on 15 September 1966, attended by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The submarine was commissioned on 2 October 1967, and following extensive trials, including the firing of her first Polaris missile on 15 February 1968, commenced her first patrol on 15 June 1968. Service . Her Polaris system was updated in 1984 with the "Chevaline" IFE (Improved Front End) that included two new warheads and re-entry bodies and penaids, super-hardened to resist ABM attack, replacing the original three ET.317 warheads. "Resolution" conducted the longest Polaris patrol of 108 days in 1991. Alleged use during the Falklands War. During the early stages of the Falklands War, the BBC World News reported that "Resolution" was stationed of Buenos Aires. A similar story appeared in 1984 in the New Statesman which alleged that "Resolution" was sent south, as a means of launching a nuclear attack against  Córdoba in the event that a Royal Navy aircraft carrier be sunk. In reality, "Resolution"'s crew were having to deal with an upsurge of Soviet SSN activity, with "Resolution" having to take evasive action to avoid a November-class submarine. Despite Soviet efforts, "Resolution" was never found during her 72-day patrol. Following the completion of the first Trident-carrying in 1992, the "Resolution" class were gradually removed from service. "Resolution" was decommissioned on 22 October 1994, after 69 patrols, and laid up at the Rosyth Dockyard. She remains in the main basin at Rosyth, intact but with her  reactor defuelled; the MOD has yet to finalise plans for removal of the radioactive reactor parts and the scrapping of the boat. References.