HMS Torbay (S90): Trialling a Blue Coat of Paint
The Fourth of Her Class
HMS Torbay was the fourth of the six Trafalgar-class nuclear fleet submarines, and the fifth Royal Navy vessel and second submarine to carry the name Torbay, fitted with a Rolls-Royce PWR1 nuclear reactor and notable as the first submarine of her class equipped with the new SMCS NG command system.
An Unusual Experiment
In 2006, Torbay took part in a notably unusual trial, having her hull repainted blue in place of the Royal Navy's traditional black, an experiment aimed at improving her ability to avoid detection from the air, a small but telling example of how even something as basic as paint colour could become a subject of serious naval research.
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A Long Working Life
Torbay completed a refuel and modernisation in February 2001, and in May 2011 took part in Exercise Saxon Warrior alongside the American carrier USS George H. W. Bush. She ran aground in the Eastern Mediterranean in April 2009, and underwent extensive revalidation and maintenance at Devonport Royal Dockyard between 2011 and 2013, a period that also saw a fire break out aboard her in 2013.
The End of Her Service
Although originally scheduled for retirement in 2015, Torbay received a two-year life extension through further maintenance work. She entered Gibraltar Naval Base flying her paying-off pennant on 6 June 2017 and was formally decommissioned at Devonport on 14 July 2017, closing out more than three decades of service for one of the Royal Navy's longest-serving nuclear submarines.
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