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HMS Torbay (S90)
Encyclopedia
HMS Torbay is a nuclear submarine
Nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and was the fourth vessel of her class.
Torbay was the first vessel to be fitted with the new command system SMCS-NG (derived from the earlier SMCS
SMCS
SMCS, the Submarine Command System, was first created for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom's Vanguard class submarines as a tactical information system and a torpedo weapon control system...
), which meant that she was also the first Royal Navy vessel to put to sea under the "command" of the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating system.
Torbay is the fifth vessel and the second submarine of the Royal Navy to be named after Torbay
Torbay
Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England. The first was the 80-gun second rate HMS Torbay
HMS Torbay (1693)
HMS Torbay was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford Dockyard on 16 December 1693. In 1707, she served as flagship of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Sir John Norris and belonged to Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's fleet...
launched in 1693.
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
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, with Navy operations moving from the murky waters of the North Atlantic to the clearer waters of the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
and the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
In May 2011, she took part in Exercise Saxon Warrior in the Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
. The exercise included the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, HMS Dauntless
HMS Dauntless (D33)
HMS Dauntless is the second ship of the Type 45 class of air defence destroyer built for the Royal Navy...
, HMS Westminster
HMS Westminster (F237)
HMS Westminster is a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, and the second ship to bear the name. She was launched on 4 February 1992.Westminster was used for the interior shots in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in three different roles - as HMS Chester, HMS Devonshire and HMS Bedford...
and a number of other vessels and culminated in a 'Thursday War
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 Flag Officer Sea Training , so named because they are usually held on a Thursday...
'.
In fiction
HMS Torbay is featured in Tom Clancy'sTom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
novel Red Storm Rising
Red Storm Rising
Red Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s...
, which saw the submarine engage and sink a Soviet Alfa-class submarine
Alfa class submarine
The Soviet Union/Russian Navy Project 705 was a class of hunter/killer nuclear powered submarines. The class is also known by the NATO reporting name of Alfa...
with Spearfish
Spearfish
Spearfish may refer to:In geography:*Spearfish, South Dakota, United States*North Spearfish, South Dakota, United StatesIn biology:* Marlin, or Spearfish, a fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or billIn military:...
torpedoes.