HMS ''Torbay'' is a decommissioned
nuclear submarine of the
Royal Navy and the fourth vessel of her class. ''Torbay'' was the fifth vessel and the second submarine of the Royal Navy to be named after
Torbay in
Devon, England. The first vessel was the 80-gun
second rate HMS ''Torbay'' launched in 1693.
She was the first vessel to be fitted with the new command system
SMCS-NG.
''Torbay'' was scheduled to be decommissioned in 2015, to be replaced by one of the new
Astute-class submarines.
[Hansard HL Deb 14 March 2005 vol 670 c116WA]
quoted i
/ref> she was undergoing extended maintenance and upgrades. The work allowed for a two-year life extension beyond the previously-planned decommissioning date. On 6 June 2017, she entered Gibraltar Naval Base flying her paying-off pennant
The commissioning pennant (or masthead pennant) is a pennant (also spelled "pendant") flown from the masthead of a warship. The history of flying a commissioning pennant dates back to the days of chivalry with their trail pendants being flown fr ...
and, on Friday 14 July 2017, the vessel was decommissioned in Devonport.
Operational history
''Torbay'' completed a refuel and modernisation process in February 2001.
In early 2006, ''Torbay'' was the participant in an experiment in the use of colour schemes to reduce the visibility of submarines from the air. The standard black paint of Royal Navy submarines was replaced by a carefully selected shade of blue. This was the result of research that found that black was the worst possible colour for a submarine attempting to avoid detection from the air. This change is in part the result of the changing nature of Royal Navy commitments since the end of the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, with Navy operations moving from the murky waters of the North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
to the clearer waters of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
In November 2010, it was reported in Hansard that ''Torbay'' had run aground in the Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea.
It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...
in April 2009.
In May 2011, she took part in Exercise Saxon Warrior in the Western Approaches. The exercise included the aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
, HMS ''Dauntless'', HMS ''Westminster'', and a number of other vessels and culminated in a "Thursday War
A Thursday War is the colloquial name given in the Royal Navy for the weekly war-fighting and damage control exercises that are held during Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST), so named because they are usually held on a Thursday. FOST is respo ...
".
In late 2011 she entered a revalidation and assisted maintenance period (RAMP) at Devonport Royal Dockyard. This includes communications upgrades with installation of the Cromwell radio antenna to enhance internal communications and the ship alongside upgrade, plus inspection of the hull and reactor, an overhaul of one of the reactor coolers and upgrades to many other systems. the RAMP was 85% complete, with a return to service originally planned for summer 2013.
In 2013, there was a fire on board.
She made her final entry to Devonport on 19 June 2017 prior to her formal decommissioning parade on 14 July 2017.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Royal Navy HMS ''Torbay''
(royalnavy.mod.uk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torbay (S90)
Trafalgar-class submarines
Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
1985 ships
Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom