HMS Splendid (S106): Twenty Tomahawks Over Kosovo

The Build: Barrow

HMS Splendid was built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited at Barrow-in-Furness, laid down on 23 November 1977, launched on 5 October 1979 by Lady Eberle, wife of Admiral Sir James Eberle, and commissioned on 21 March 1981 under Commander R. C.

Lane-Nott, taking her name from the celebrated S-class submarine that had fought so successfully in the Mediterranean forty years earlier.

Shadowing the Falklands Task Force's Opponents

Splendid arrived in the South Atlantic in mid-April 1982 during the Falklands War and shadowed the Argentine aircraft carrier Veinticinco de Mayo, and while she never fired a shot in anger during the conflict, her reconnaissance on Argentine aircraft movements and her mere presence helped restrict the Argentine Navy's freedom of manoeuvre throughout the campaign.

First to Fire the Tomahawk

In November 1998, Splendid achieved a genuine milestone when the Royal Navy attained initial operational capability for the American-built Tomahawk cruise missile aboard her, and during the Kosovo War the following year she fired twenty Tomahawks against targets ashore, the Royal Navy's first operational use of the weapon.

She fired further Tomahawks against Iraqi targets in 2003, and her commander, Commander Burke, was awarded the OBE for his leadership during Gulf operations.

The Youngest of Her Class

HMS Splendid was decommissioned at HMNB Devonport in 2004, the youngest of the six Swiftsure-class submarines, bringing to a close a career that had carried her from the tension of the South Atlantic to the front rank of the Royal Navy's cruise missile capability.