Navy. If they are lucky, they may even rise to command a frigate or destroyer. But the stigma of being failed Perishers will always follow them.
For all the costs, just what does the Perisher course produce? Arguably the world's finest quality submarine captains. Perisher is the Royal Navy's commitment to making sure that the men who command their submarines are as good as the boats themselves. With only about twenty submarines in the force, they feel they must have them commanded by the very best. This is not to say that the U.S. commanding PCO course is not a good course-it is. But by separating the engineering career paths from the service officers at an early point, the future captains can concentrate on being captains, not nuclear engineers. This does not mean that U.S. skippers are not as good as their Royal Navy counterparts, only that the Royal Navy has a procedure in place that automatically selects and qualifies the best of their submariners for their command, not engineering, skills.
Once the Perisher trainee has graduated, he will be assigned as the first lieutenant of a Royal Navy submarine. In the past, when the RN had more diesel submarines, a Perisher graduate could count on getting command of one of these boats directly after completion of the course. Now, of course, all of them do a tour as a first lieutenant. This means that every Royal Navy submarine has two men who are fully qualified to command the boat. Once he has done this tour, the officer will likely be given command of his own boat. In, fact, it is not impos-sible that a good Royal Navy submarine captain might command a diesel boat, an SSN, and an SSBN before he is finished in submarines.
HMS Triumph is rolled out of the VSEL building barn. U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE The British like to get their money's worth out of the men they qualify for command, and a really good captain is not done yet. Once a captain has finished with submarines, the Royal Navy frequently sends him to drive ASW frigates such as one of the Type 22 Broadsword class or Type 23 Duke class. By this time a full captain, he is ready to move on to command a task group or naval base, and then, flag rank. This is the big difference between the American system and the British. The U.S. Navy system creates superior submarine drivers and engineers; the Royal Navy system is designed to produce pure leaders like a Nelson, Rodney, or Woodward.
The Trafalgar Class-A Guided Tour
HMS Triumph (S-93) is the seventh and last unit of the Trafalgar class. It is based at the Royal Naval Station at Devonport, near the town of Plymouth in southwest England. She is part of the 2nd Submarine Squadron, which includes the seven 'T' boats, and the four diesel boats of the 'U' or Upholder class. Ordered in 1986 and laid down at VSEL in 1987, she was launched on February 16, 1991, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on December 10, 1991. At the time this book is being written, the Flag Officer, Submarines, for the Royal Navy is Vice Admiral R. T. Frere, RN. His Chief of Staff, Submarines, is Commodore Roger Lane-Nott, RN. They command the British submarine fleet from the Royal Navy operations center at Northwood, near London.
The plaque shows the various battles of the previous Royal Navy vessels to carry the name. The first of these dates back to the battles with the Spanish Armada in 1588. U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE HMS Triumph is the tenth ship (and the second submarine) of the RN to carry the name. Her predecessors carry a total of sixteen battle honors, starting with the battles against the Spanish Armada in 1588. The current Triumph is commanded by her commissioning commanding officer, Commander David Michael Vaughan, RN. His first lieutenant is Commander Michael Davis-Marks, RN. Both are Perisher graduates, and each has even commanded one of the cherished 'O' class diesel boats before he came to Triumph. They are an excellent team, generally considered to be two of the best command-qualified officers in the Royal Navy submarine service. They are aggressive, confident, colorful, and seem fully capable of any tasks that might be asked of them and their boat. Her crew is made up of twelve officers and ninety-seven enlisted men. It is a trim, neat-looking boat with a definite polish to her. Let's take a look for ourselves.
The captain of the HMS Triumph (S-93), Commander David Vaughan, RN. U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE 
The first lieutenant of HMS Triumph, Commander Michael Davis- Marks, RN, on the deck of his first command, HMS Otis (S-18). U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Triumph is somewhat different from the Miami in that she is built not so much for speed as stealth. She is smaller than a 688I, at 4,700 tons displacement versus the 8,100 tons for the 688I, and is shorter, around 250 feet/76 meters long. In addition, her hull is more like the classic shape of the Albacore, and is somewhat more hydrodynamically stable than the 688I. Her hull is covered in rubber tiles like the 688I, but these are hard and stiff. This coating is anechoic, designed specifically to defeat active sonars that might be trying to get a 'ping' off the hull. She may also have a decoupling coating on the inside of the hull to help reduce any machine noise produced internally.
Much like the 688I, her fittings are designed for a minimum of drag, and the only protrusion is the sonar dome for the Type 2019 acoustic intercept receiver forward of the conning tower. Her dive planes are recessed in the forward part of the hull, and she has a fairly conventional set of cruciform tail surfaces aft. At the tip of the vertical stabilizer, the Type 2046 towed sonar array is attached. Unlike the 688I array, this unit is clipped on, not rolled out. This means that it has to be attached and removed whenever the sub enters or leaves port. The 2046 is roughly analogous in capability to the American TB-16.
Though it is not obvious when she is sitting at dock, the most noticeable difference from the 688I is that the boat has no propeller. Instead, Triumph is equipped with a device called a pumpjet propulsor. If you could see her in drydock, you would see what looks like a lampshade attached to her stern; this is the pumpjet. This device works like a ducted fan, to push water aft and drive the boat forward. The advantage of this system is that it is somewhat quieter than a propeller, and it operates more smoothly. By the way of example, Triumph can speed up from 5 to 18 knots without its crew feeling any vibration from the shift in speed. So efficient is this system that the U.S. Navy is planning to use pumpjets on all their future SSNs, including the Seawolf class.
A seaman 'dives the tub' on a Royal Navy submarine. U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE 
A Royal Navy submarine launches a Royal Navy Sub Harpoon antiship missile. U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE The conning tower of Triumph is much like that of the
