Class overview
Name:	Churchill class
Builders:	Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Valiant class
Succeeded by:	Swiftsure class
In service:	1970–1992
Completed:	3
Retired:	3
Preserved:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	4,900 tonnes
Length:	86.9 m (285 ft)
Beam:	10.1 m (33 ft)
Draught:	8.2 m (27 ft)
Propulsion:	One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Speed:	28 knots (52 km/h) submerged
Range:	Unlimited, except by food supplies
Complement:	103
Armament:	6 × 533 mm (21 in) tubes capable of firing: Mk VIII torpedoes Mk 24 Tigerfish torpedoes UGM-84 RN Sub Harpoon missiles

The three Improved Valiant-class submarines, sometimes known as the Churchill class,^[1] were nuclear-powered fleet submarines which served with the Royal Navy from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The Churchill class was based on the older Valiant class, but featured many internal improvements.

The lead vessel was named after the former Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. HMS Conqueror was the most famous of the class, sinking the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgranoduring the 1982 Falklands War. As of 2019, this is the only instance of a nuclear-powered submarine of any nation sinking an enemy ship by torpedo.