The United Kingdom has bestowed the fearsome name "HMS Dreadnought" on the first submarine of its new Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), which will be the largest submarines ever built for the Royal Navy.

The HMS Dreadnought, the first of four Dreadnought-class boats, will be delivered to the Royal Navy in 2028. This class was formerly called the Successor-class.

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Sir Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defense for the United Kingdom announced the bestowal of this history-laden name on the first of three submarines in this class, which will be most powerful British submarines ever built. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) received approval for the name from Her Majesty the Queen.

The remaining three submarines in the Dreadnought-class will also receive names with "historical resonance," said the MoD.

"Every day our ballistic missile submarines are used to deter the most extreme threats to Britain's security," said Fallon.

"We cannot know what dangers we might face in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s, so we are building the new Dreadnought class. Along with increasing the defense budget to buy new ships, more planes, and armored vehicles, this commitment shows we will never gamble with our security."

Nine Royal Navy warships were previously named HMS Dreadnought. These include the sixth HMS Dreadnought, which was the most powerful battleship in the world when she was launched in 1906. Her combination of massive firepower and unrivaled speed made battleships of all other nations obsolete.

Her entry into service was such a paradigm shift in naval technology her name has since been associated with an entire generation of battleships, the dreadnoughts, that ruled the waves prior to the Second World War.

The United Kingdom approved an initial outlay of $1.6 billion to produce its new Dreadnought-class SSBNs that are far stealthier than the Royal Navy's current SSBN and also have superior crew accommodations.

The four boats in the Dreadnought-class will replace the Vanguard-class that entered service with the Royal Navy in the 1990s.  Replacing the Vanguards is necessary if the Royal Navy is to maintain a "continuous at-sea deterrent" (CASD), the principle of operation behind the Trident ballistic nuclear missile system.

The new boats will displace 16,000 metric tons and will be 153 meters in length. The Dreadnoughts, however, will mount 12 missile tubes rather than the 16 on the Vanguards.

The huge SSBNs, also referred to in submariner lingo as boomers, are expected to enter Royal Navy in the 2030s. They will be armed with 12 nuclear missile tubes loaded with UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Trident II is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload and range than the Trident C-4.Trident II's increased payload allows nuclear deterrence to be accomplished with fewer submarines.

Its high accuracy (a circular error probability of only 90 meters after traveling 12,000 km) approaches that of land-based missiles and allows it to be used as a first strike weapon.

TagsRoyal Navy, HMS Dreadnought, Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines, SSBN, Sir Michael Fallon, United Kingdom