Like all Amphion-class submarines, Alderney had a displacement of 1360t when at the surface and 1590t while submerged. It had a total length of 293feet, a beam of 22feet, and a draught of 18feet. The submarine was powered by two Admiralty ML eight-cylinder diesel engines generating a power of 2150hp each. It also contained four electric motors each producing that drove two shafts.[2] It could carry a maximum of 219t of diesel, although it usually carried between 159t165t.[2]
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.5kn and a submerged speed of 8kn.[3] When submerged, it could operate at 3kn for 90nmi or at 8kn for 16nmi. When surfaced, it was able to travel 15200nmi at 10kn or 10500nmi at 11kn.[2] Alderney was fitted with ten 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, one QF 4 inch naval gun Mk XXIII, one Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, and a .303 British Vickers machine gun. Its torpedo tubes were fitted to the bow and stern, and it could carry twenty torpedoes. Its complement was sixty-one crew members.[2]
Alderney completed three commissions between 1954 and 1963 with the 6th Submarine Squadron at Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying out exercises with the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. In September 1952 replaced the damaged Alderney, which had developed issues while training with vessels of the Royal Canadian Navy off Bermuda.[4] She was modernised during a long refit in Portsmouth Dockyard between 1956 and 1958. In 1965 she recommissioned for the eighth time and was allocated to the 1st Submarine Squadron at . In 1965 and 1966 she was present at Portsmouth Navy Days.[5] [6] She was decommissioned in 1966 and was broken up at Troon, Scotland on 1 February 1970.[7]