Amphion-class submarine

The Amphion class, also known as the A class or Acheron class, was a group of British diesel-electric submarines designed for the Pacific War. Developed from the T class, with a longer range, higher surface speed and a welded hull built in sections for fast construction, the boats took about eight months from keel laying to launch. Forty-six were ordered in 1943, but only eighteen were launched and sixteen commissioned; Amphion was launched in August 1944 and Astute in January 1945, and neither saw wartime action. Most were built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, with others from Cammell Laird and Scotts, while Chatham Dockyard built one, Acheron, commissioned in 1948. Rebuilt in the 1950s, the class served until Andrew was decommissioned in 1974.