HMS SPARTAN (S105)

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Career	RN Ensign
Ordered:	7 February 1976
Laid down:	26 April 1976
Launched:	7 May 1978
Commissioned:	22 September 1979
Decommissioned:	January 2006
Fate:	Paid off
Struck:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	4,900 tonnes (dived)
Length:	82.9 m
Beam:	9.8 m
Draught:	8.5 m
Propulsion:	One Rolls-Royce Pressurised Water nuclear Reactor (PWR1)
Speed:	In excess of 20 knots, dived
Range:
Complement:	116
Armament:	5 tubes capable of firing: Spearfish Torpedoes RN Sub Harpoon Missiles Tomahawk Missiles
Motto:	Courage With Great Endurance

'HMS ''Spartan'' (S105)' is a nuclear powered fleet submarine of the Royal Navy Swiftsure class. HMS ''Spartan'' was launched on April 7, 1978 by Lady Lygo, wife of Admiral Sir Raymond Lygo. The boat was built by Vickers-Armstrong (now a division of BAE Systems) at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England. She was decommissioned in January 2006.
HMS ''Spartan'' was ordered to sail south for the Falkland Islands two days before the Argentine invasion of the islands on March 30, 1982. ''Spartan'' was the first ship to arrive in the islands and began to enforce a 200 mile (370 km) maritime exclusion zone imposed by the British. Shortly after, ''Spartan'' sighted Argentine merchant shipping mining the harbour at Stanley, but was not ordered to attack. This was partly due to British concerns about escalating the war too early, but also to avoid scaring off more lucrative targets such as the Argentine aircraft carrier Veinticinco de Mayo. Unlike HMS Conqueror, ''Spartan'' did not fire in anger during the Falklands War, she did however provide valuable reconnaissance to the British Task Force on Argentine aircraft movements. ''Spartan's'' presence also ensured that the Argentine Navy would not dare leave its port.
In 1999, ''Spartan'' was fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
See HMS ''Spartan'' for other ships of the same name.