HMS Torbay (S90)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 3rd December 1982 |
| Commissioned: | 7th February 1987 |
| Fate: | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Surfaced: 4,740 tons Dived: 5,208 tons |
| Length: | 280.1 ft (85.4 m) |
| Beam: | 32.1 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draught: | 31.2 ft (9.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Rolls-Royce PWR1 nuclear reactor 2 × GEC turbines 1 × shaft pump jet 15,000 hp (11 MW) motor for emergency drive emergency retractable propellor 2 × W H Allen turbo generators 2 MW 2 × Paxman diesel alternators 2,800 hp (2.1 MW) |
| Speed: | Dived: 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Complement: | 18 officers 112 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Ferranti/Gresham Dowty DCB/DCG Type 2072 hull-mounted flank array passive sonar Plessey Type 2020 or Marconi/Plessey Type 2074 hull-mounted active and passive search and attack sonar Ferranti Type 2046 towed array passive search sonar Thomson Sintra Type 2019 PARIS or Thorn EMI 2082 passive intercept and ranging sonar Marconi Type 2077 short range active classification sonar Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 I band navigation radar Pilkington Optronics CK34 search periscope Pilkington Optronics CH84/CM010 attack periscope BAE Systems SMCS from January 1999 Type 2074 sonar from January 1999 |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
2 × SSE Mk8 launchers for Type 2066 and Type 2071 torpedo decoys RESM Racal UAP passive intercept CESM Outfit CXA SAWCS decoys from 2002 |
| Armament: | 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes Spearfish torpedoes (originally Tigerfish torpedoes) with 20 reloads UGM-84 Harpoon submarine-launched cruise missile Mines Spearfish from January 1999 UGM-109 Tomahawk scheduled for 2006 |
HMS Torbay (S90) is a Trafalgar class submarine of the Royal Navy.
HMS Torbay has the unique distinction that, because she was the first vessel fitted with the new command system SMCS-NG (derived from the earlier SMCS), she was also the first Royal Navy vessel to put to sea under the command of the Microsoft Windows operating system.
HMS Torbay has recently also been used in an experiment into using colour schemes to reduce the visibility of submarines from the air. In early 2006 the black in which Royal Navy submarines have traditionally been painted was relaced by a carefully selected shade of blue. This was after researchers said black was the worst possible colour for a submarine avoiding detection from the air. This change is the result in part of the changing nature of Royal Navy commitments since the end of the Cold War. A more expeditionary foreign policy has led to Navy operations moving from the murky waters of the North Atlantic to the clearer waters of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. [1] [2]
HMS Torbay completed refuel and modernisation in February 2001
See HMS Torbay for other ships of the same name.
[edit] In Fiction
Torbay was featured in the Tom Clancy novel, Red Storm Rising, where she helps sink a Soviet Alfa-class submarine, saving the USS Chicago.
[edit] References
Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day, By Robert Hutchinson
[edit] External links
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