The Royal Navy has formally retired the final Trafalgar-class submarine, HMS Triumph, marking the end of a fleet that served at the forefront of British underwater operations for over four decades.
According to a news update received by the UK Defence Journal, the decommissioning ceremony took place at Devonport Naval Base, the long-time home of the so-called T-boats. Crews from HMS Triumph and HMS Talent, veterans of the Submarine Service, and members of the Royal Naval Associations gathered to mark the occasion.
A ceremonial parade was held at HMS Drake, with a Guard and Colour Party comprising submariners from Talent and Triumph, as well as veteran contingents. Among those present were Captain Dave Burrell, a long-serving officer in the class, and Lady Hamilton, Triumph’s sponsor. World War Two veteran John Harlow, who served in earlier T-class submarines including HMS Truculent, also attended as an honorary guest.
Captain Burrell said, “They are the last of the Cold War warriors, although the Cold War never went away. We continued to play our dangerous game.” Reflecting on his first experience aboard HMS Tireless in 2003, he described the submarine as “a marvel” and its crew as “inspiring.”
He paid tribute to all who served in the class, particularly Weapons Engineers Paul McCann and Anthony Huntrod, who were killed in a 2007 explosion aboard Tireless during an Arctic patrol. He described the crew’s response as “probably the finest moment in the history of the class.”
According to the update, Burrell added, “I asked the Royal Navy’s most senior submariners how I should describe the Trafalgar class. They said simply: utterly brilliant submarines.”
Former nuclear engineer Craig Spacey, who served in HMS Trenchant and HMS Torbay and now works at BAE, said, “What keeps you in the Service is the people, the fun, the comradeship.”
Triumph, which entered service in 1991 and completed a 34-year career, was the last of the seven T-boats in service. The class also included HMS Trafalgar, Turbulent, Tireless, Torbay, Trenchant and Talent. Built to counter Soviet submarines during the Cold War, the Trafalgar class was later adapted to carry out intelligence gathering, special operations, and precision strikes. Triumph launched Tomahawk missiles during operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and Libya in 2011.
The update noted that Triumph made her final entry into Devonport in December 2024. Her duties will eventually be assumed by HMS Achilles, the final Astute-class submarine, later this decade.
Captain Burrell concluded, “It is time to rest easy Trafalgar, Turbulent, Tireless, Torbay, Trenchant, Talent and Triumph. It’s now someone else’s turn.”
Such a shame that the Ts retired before the As were fully built.
Even after an eye watering four year refit for two years of extra service.
They did us proud and kept us safe more than most will know.
It really seems mental how much we have fallen in the ability to build and maintain these boats. I believe the design and capability of Astute is a real step change but that’s no use if they are all sitting in port. The failure of the Cameron government will haunt this country for a long time.
The blame goes back far earlier Jim. The Major government deleyed the decision, what was supposed to be a relatively straightforward evolution of Trafalgar, as Trafalgar was in turn an evolution of Swifsure class.
Astute ended up being a brand new design, as PWR2 reactor and machinery was far bigger.
The delay between Vanguard and Astute Classes was a massive mistake, but unfortunately typical of political meddling.
On top of this, Blair further slowed down the programme, as everything not Sandbox war connected took a back seat.
Yes, that is all very true.
It was a little nutty that there wasn’t the evolved T boat – can’t remember its project name now. Even if it was a limited class size.
I remember Alan Clark (?) saying that industry would step into producing new boats when required.
But the hiccoughs in the Astute production and the delays to everything defence infrastructure related are largely Osborne related.
…and two of the A boats not even taking to sea for a combined 5 years due to mostly port side limitations. So cynically speaking probably wouldn’t have made any difference if the final 2 boats were ‘operational’.
Great boats fine service. my son was on Torbay and the consensus amongst everyone involved with them was that that they were gone earlier than they needed to be. and that rumours surrounding thPWR were a dockyard myth.
Firstly, thank your son for his service.
Secondly, it was mostly likely because the OoS date was set decades ago and the contracts for supply of spares etc were times to expire at OoS. The certification and safety case for the kettle was probably set to expire by the OoS date. There probably isn’t much more to it than that.
So once the ever so clever George Who Didn’t Really Underrated Anything Osbourne pushed Astute to the right to save pence and pushed dockyard investments to the right to save whatever was in the tea money the die was set.
Unfortunately 1980’s electronic parts [some of the Ts were even older designs] are getting very hard to come by.
Proper sad news. As a T Boat rating I can confirm these were exceptional boats and anyone on Turbs between 01 and 05 can confirm we beat literally everything put in front of us and completed every single tasking.
When they were at their mechanical peak and fully shaken down.
TBH event when we had been run ragged we still spanked the best boat the Americans had. T boats really were exceptional bits of kit and of course we had amazing operators pushing them to the limits.
Worked on all the Trafalgar class at Barrow and Plymouth from the first to the last.Great class of boat.Just a pity it,s took twice as long to build their replacements.Something needs to change if we are to survive in an increasingly dangerous world.