HMS Torbay (S90)

HMS "Torbay" (S90) is a Trafalgar class submarine of the Royal Navy.

HMS "Torbay" was the first vessel to be fitted with the new command system SMCS-NG (derived from the earlier SMCS), which meant that she was also the first Royal Navy vessel to put to sea under the "command" of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

HMS "Torbay" recently participated in an experiment in the use of colour schemes to reduce the visibility of submarines from the air. In early 2006, the standard black paint of Royal Navy submarines was replaced by a carefully selected shade of blue. This was the result of research that found that black was the worst possible colour for a submarine attempting to avoid detection from the air.fact|date=June 2007 This change is in part the result of the changing nature of Royal Navy commitments since the end of the Cold War, with Navy operations moving from the murky waters of the North Atlantic to the clearer waters of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.5110] [http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/04/british-subs-debunk-conventional-fashion-is-blue-the-new-black/index.php]

HMS Torbay completed a refuel and modernisation process in February 2001.

See HMS "Torbay" for other ships of the same name.

In Fiction

"Torbay" was featured in the Tom Clancy novel, "Red Storm Rising", in which she helps to sink a Soviet "Alfa"-class submarine, saving the USS "Chicago".

References

"Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day", By Robert Hutchinson

External links

* [http://royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.2511 Royal Navy official site]
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/submarines/pages/torbay_s90_page_1.htm MaritimeQuest HMS Torbay S-90 pages]