Poster profile SSBN HMS Vigilant

The Vanguard class is a class of 4 nuclear submarines new generation missile launchers of the Royal Navy, commissioned from 1994 to 1999.

They are, by far, the largest SSBNs in service in the Royal Navy, displacing almost double their Resolution-class predecessors.

The units are HMS Vanguard, HMS Victorious, HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance.

Able to carry 16 Trident D5 missiles, they have been the sole vector of the United Kingdom's nuclear arsenal since the withdrawal of the nuclear bombs dropped by bombers in 1998.

Their submarine base is Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde in the region of Argyll and Bute in the west of Scotland.