For more than 30 years living on the Hoe Promenade and long before Westward Shipping News was founded in 2023, we have witnessed many of the 7 Trafalgar Class Submarines passing Plymouth’s seafront on their way into Devonport Dockyard.
The hunter-killer submarines were dubbed the Cold War Warriors until the collapse of the Soviet Union and were later adapted in the new world order – until the new Astute class became the nation’s under water guardians.
Submariners of all ages who served in the boats converged on Devonport Naval Base recently to celebrate the accomplishment and known affectionately as T-boats.
The formal act of decommissioning of the last operational boat in the class, HMS Triumph, provided the occasion for the reunion in the base that the hunter-killers called home for most of their careers.
Crews of HMS Talent and HMS Triumph, held Divisions at HMS Drake in Devonport, with former Trafalgar Class crews invited to join them.
A Colour Party and Guard comprising submariners from HMS Talent, which was paid off three years ago but still has crew as part of the complex decommissioning process, and HMS Triumph, as well as veterans from the Royal Naval Associations and Royal British Legion, paraded in front of friends and families of the Submarine Service who had gathered for the occasion in Devonport.
Taking the salute was Captain Dave Burrell, who served in a string of T-boats, was executive officer of both HMS Talent and HMS Triumph, and, as skipper of HMS Trenchant, took her to the North Pole.
He was joined by Guest of Honour and Triumph’s Sponsor, Lady Hamilton (her husband was Armed Forces Minister when the boat was launched back in (February 1991).
