Editing Upholder/Victoria-class submarine (section)

==Construction and Royal Navy service==
The plan initially called for twelve submarines to be built. However, formal approval was given in 1981 for the construction of only nine.<ref name=perkins155/><ref name=gardiner532/> The nine submarines were to be constructed in three stages, with Stage 1 being the construction of the prototype submarine, Stage 2 being the construction of three more follow-ons, and Stage 3 being the construction of five vessels with updated systems.<ref name=perkins155/>

The MoD placed the order with VSEL for the Stage 1 submarine on 2 November 1983.<ref name=perkins155/> ''Upholder''{{'}}s [[keel]] was laid down at the VSEL shipyard at [[Barrow-in-Furness]] that month and the submarine was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 2 December 1986.<ref name=gardiner532/><ref name=chircn/> The order for Stage 2 was placed on 2 January 1986 with the contract for the next three vessels going to [[Cammell Laird]], a subsidiary of VSEL. The cost announced for the program was [[Pound sterling|£]]620 million plus long-lead items.<ref name=perkins155/>

The second submarine, ''Unseen'', was laid down at the Cammell Laird shipyard at [[Birkenhead]] on 12 August 1987 and launched on 14 November 1989.<ref name=vicrcn/> ''Ursula'' was laid down on 25 August 1987 and launched on 22 February 1991<ref name=corrcn/> and ''Unicorn'' was laid down on 13 March 1989 and launched on 16 April 1992.<ref name=winrcn/>

''Upholder'' was completed on 9 June 1990, followed by ''Unseen'' on 20 July 1991, ''Ursula'' on 8 May 1992 and ''Unicorn'' on 25 June 1993. Initially they were unable to fire torpedoes and the first three were refitted in 1992 and 1993 to have this fixed at a cost of £9 million. They were operating from {{HMS|Dolphin|shore establishment|6}} (at [[Gosport]]), but with only four submarines the base was deemed uneconomic and they transferred to [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport Naval Base]]. In their short period of service, the class operated mostly in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and UK waters.  The exception was ''Unicorn'', which completed a 6-month deployment east of [[Suez]], completing operations and exercises in the Mediterranean, the [[Gulf of Oman]] and Indian Ocean and in the Persian Gulf.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

In 1992, the [[Defence Review]] announced the decision by the MoD to direct all further submarine expenditure to nuclear-powered submarines. In 1994, the Royal Navy abandoned the Type 2400 program after the first four submarines and Stage 3 was never ordered.<ref name=perkins155/> The ''Upholder'' class were declared surplus in 1994 and laid up.<ref name=gardiner532/><ref name=cocker123/> ''Unseen'' was [[Ship decommissioning|paid off]] on 6 April 1994,<ref name=vicrcn/> followed by ''Upholder'' on 29 April<ref name=winrcn/> and ''Ursula'' on 16 June.<ref name=corrcn/> These three submarines were laid up in June 1994.<ref name=mac298>Macpherson and Barrie, p. 298</ref> ''Unicorn'' was paid off on 16 October 1994 and laid up.<ref name=winrcn/><ref name=mac298/>