HMS Torbay (S90)

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HMS Torbay rounding Calshot Spit, Southampton in November 2010.
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Torbay
NamesakeTorbay
BuilderVickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down3 December 1982
Launched8 March 1985
Sponsored byLady Ann Herbert
Commissioned7 February 1987
Decommissioned14 July 2017
HomeportHMNB Devonport, Plymouth
FateDecommissioned
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeTrafalgar-class submarine
Displacement
  • Surfaced: 4,500 to 4,800 t (4,700 long tons; 5,300 short tons)[1]
  • Submerged: 5,200 to 5,300 t (5,200 long tons; 5,800 short tons)[1]
Length85.4 m (280 ft)[1]
Beam9.8 m (32 ft)[1]
Draught9.5 m (31 ft)[1]
Propulsion
  • 1 ×
    HEU 93.5%[2]
  • 2 × GEC steam turbines
  • 2 × WH Allen turbo generators; 3.2 MW
  • 2 × Paxman diesel generators 2,800 shp (2.1 MW)
  • 1 × pump jet propulsor
  • 1 × motor for emergency drive
  • 1 × auxiliary retractable prop
SpeedOver 30 knots (56 km/h), submerged[1]
RangeUnlimited[1]
Complement130[1]
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • 2 × SSE Mk8 launchers for Type 2066 and Type 2071 torpedo decoys
  • RESM Racal UAP passive intercept
  • CESM Outfit CXA
  • SAWCS decoys carried from 2002
Armament
  • 5 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes with stowage for up to 30 weapons:

HMS Torbay is a decommissioned

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

paying-off pennant
and, on Friday 14 July 2017, the vessel was decommissioned in Devonport.

Operational history

Torbay completed a refuel and modernisation process in February 2001.[citation needed]

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

North Atlantic to the clearer waters of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.[4]

In November 2010, it was reported in

In May 2011, she took part in Exercise Saxon Warrior in the Western Approaches. The exercise included the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, HMS Dauntless, HMS Westminster, and a number of other vessels and culminated in a "Thursday War".[6]

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. As of September 2012 the RAMP was 85% complete, with a return to service originally planned for summer 2013.[7]

In 2013, there was a fire on board.[8]

Leroy Grumman
during Exercise Saxon Warrior 11.

She made her final entry to Devonport on 19 June 2017 prior to her formal decommissioning parade on 14 July 2017.[9]

References

Bibliography

  • Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's submarines : war beneath the waves from 1776 to the present day. London: HarperCollins. .

External links