Royal Navy’s fourth Trafalgar-class submarine HMS Torbay was decommissioned in a ceremony on July 14, some two months after its successor HMS Audacious was launched.
Torbay decommissioned in Devonport naval base after 32 years of service in the Royal Navy.
Since the hunter-killer submarine was commissioned in March 1985, an estimated 2,500 submariners have served aboard. Some of those – including 21 former commanding officers – were invited back to Devonport to bid farewell to the nuclear-powered boat.
They have taken her more than 28 times around the world – over 705,000 miles in all, three quarters of them covered under water.
Only three boats remain in the class which will be substituted by the new Astute-class submarines.
Three Astute boats are already in service with the Royal Navy.