Vanguard is the name of a class of British nuclear-powered ballistic missile carrier submarines (SSBNs) built between 1986 and 1998. A total of four units of this class were built. All of them are active and kept in line. The Avangard-type ship has a length of 149.9 m, a width of 12.8 m and a displacement of approximately 15,900 tons. Maximum underwater speed probably exceeds 25 knots. The main armament of units of this class consists of 16 Trident II D-5 ballistic missile launchers and four 533 mm torpedo tubes. The Vanguard-class ships were designed and put into production to replace the Resolution-class units in the Royal Navy. The new British SSBN ships are much larger than their predecessors, both in length and - especially - in underwater tonnage. They also carry completely different, much better, ballistic missiles with a range of over 12,000 km, each capable of carrying up to 8 nuclear warheads. Vanguard-class ships are also arguably much better soundproofed than their predecessors, and most likely have better performance, especially underwater speed. The estimated cost of one Vanguard-class ship exceeds £1.5 billion. It is assumed that ships of this class will be replaced by dreadnoughts.
