HMS Splendid was a Royal Navy nuclear-powered fleet submarine of the Swiftsure class. From commissioning in 1979 to her decommission in 2004 she took part in many operations involving British forces around the globe.
HMS Splendid was ordered on 26 May 1976 as the sixth and last submarine of the Swiftsure class.[1] The submarine was laid down at Vickers Shipbuilding GroupsBarrow-in-Furness shipyard on 23 November 1977 and was launched on 5 October 1979[1] by Lady Eberle, wife of AdmiralSir James Eberle, then Commander-in-Chief Fleet.[2]Splendid commissioned on 21 March 1981[1] under the command of Commander R. C. Lane-Nott.
Operational history
Her first major conflict came in 1982 during the Falklands War when Argentinian forces invaded the British Falkland Islands. Splendid was one of the first submarines to reach the islands, arriving mid-April, after sailing from Faslane. Unlike HMSConqueror, Splendid did not directly engage Argentinian forces, however she shadowed the Argentine aircraft carrier25 de Mayo, with Splendid running within a mile outside of the Argentinian territorial line, 12 miles (19km) off its Atlantic coast. The captain of Splendid claimed, that running on the edge of the exclusion zone around the Falklands, declared by the UK government, he had the right in international law and approval from the British PM, to fire at 25 de Mayo, a couple of miles away within Argentine waters, and would have fired MK 8 torpedoes at 25 de Mayo,[3] if he had confirmed his precise position. But just at the moment, he lost sight through the periscope of the carrier and was not immediately able to regain contact. The Naval Commander of the task force, Admiral Sandy Woodward, does not appear to be entirely clear, that Splendid had the right to fire, but says he established, against his prior view, that Splendid had orders to engage and approval of the PM.[4][pageneeded]Splendid did however provide valuable reconnaissance to the British Task Force on Argentine aircraft movements. Splendid's presence along with Conqueror effectively restricted the freedom of action of the Argentine Navy, which spent most of the war confined to port.
In November 1998, the Royal Navy attained initial operational capability for the American-built Tomahawkcruise missile with the missile's deployment aboard Splendid.[5][6] In March 1999, Splendid fired Tomahawks in battle against Serbian targets when NATO forces intervened in the Kosovo War, becoming the first British submarine in the conflict to do so; she would fire 20 Tomahawks throughout the war.[6] She again fired these weapons against Iraqi targets in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[7]
In July 2003 Splendid returned to her home at Faslane Naval Base on the River Clyde in Scotland. The youngest of the Swiftsure vessels, she was decommissioned in HMNB Devonport, Plymouth in 2004. Commander Burke was later awarded the OBE for his leadership of HMS Splendid in the Gulf.
HMS Splendid was alleged by Russian officials to have been present, along with the US Navy submarines USSMemphis and USSToledo[8] at the Russian war games during which the Russian submarine Kursk exploded and sank, resulting in the loss of that submarine and all 118 sailors and officers on board. Despite the conclusions of independent forensic inquiries and the eventual corroborating admission by the Russian Navy that the explosion was triggered by a faulty torpedo on board the Kursk, various conspiracy theories posit that Kursk was actually sunk by one of the US or British submarines. This may partly stem from the Russian Navy's initial attempts to shunt away criticism of its failed efforts to rescue the surviving crew members from the ocean floor and of the generally poor condition of its own equipment, which was eventually found to be the cause of both the sinking and the failure of the Russian rescue attempts.[9] In the days immediately after the explosion, Russia suggested that the cause of the disaster was a collision with one of the US or British submarines present.[10] Though the accusation proved to be unfounded, conspiracy theorists have picked up on and elaborated it in various directions over time.
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
Admiral Sir John Forster "Sandy" Woodward, was a senior Royal Navy officer who commanded the Task Force of the Falklands War.
The Swiftsure class was a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the Royal Navy from the early 1970s until 2010.
The Trafalgar class is a class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines (SSNs) in service with the Royal Navy, and the successor to the Swiftsure class. Like the majority of Royal Navy nuclear submarines, all seven boats were constructed at Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, Cumbria. With only one boat remaining active and in commission and six retired from the seven originally in service, the class makes up part of the Royal Navy's nuclear-powered ‘hunter-killer’ submarine force. The Trafalgar class has nearly been replaced by the larger and more capable Astute class, of which five are commissioned.
HMS Invincible was the Royal Navy's lead ship of her class of three light aircraft carriers. She was launched on 3 May 1977 as the seventh ship to carry the name. She was originally designated as an anti-submarine warfare carrier, but was used as an aircraft carrier during the Falklands War, when she was deployed with HMS Hermes. She took over as flagship of the British fleet when Hermes was sold to India. Invincible was also deployed in the Yugoslav Wars and the Iraq War. During the Falklands Conflict, Argentinian media reported HMS Invincible as sunk on several occasions. In 2005, she was decommissioned, and was eventually sold for scrap in February 2011.
HMS Conqueror was a British Churchill-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine which served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1990. She was the third submarine of her class, following the earlier Churchill and Courageous, all designed to face the Soviet threat at sea. She was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead.
This is a list of the naval forces from the United Kingdom that took part in the Falklands War, often referred to as "the Task Force" in the context of the war. For a list of naval forces from Argentina, see Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War.
HMS Sheffield was a Type 42 guided missile destroyer and the second Royal Navy ship to be named after the city of Sheffield in Yorkshire. Commissioned on 16 February 1975 the Sheffield was part of the Task Force 317 sent to the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War. She was struck and heavily damaged by an Exocet air-launched anti-ship missile from an Argentine Super Étendard aircraft on 4 May 1982 and foundered while under tow on 10 May 1982.
HMS Glamorgan was a County-class destroyer of the Royal Navy with a displacement of 5,440 tonnes. The ship was built by Vickers-Armstrongs in Newcastle Upon Tyne and named after the Welsh county of Glamorgan.
HMS Spartan was a nuclear-powered fleet submarine of the Royal Navy's Swiftsure class. Spartan was launched on 7 April 1978 by Lady Lygo, wife of Admiral Sir Raymond Lygo. The boat was built by Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England. She was decommissioned in January 2006.
ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2) was an aircraft carrier in the Argentine Navy from 1969 to 1997. The English translation of the name is Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina's May Revolution in 1810.
A submarine squadron (SUBRON) is a naval formation or unit in such states such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia/Soviet Union. In France the equivalent unit is the escadrille des sous-marins nucléaires d'attaque (ESNA), part of the French submarine forces.
The three Churchill class, sometimes known as the Repeat Valiant-class submarines were nuclear-powered fleet submarines which served with the Royal Navy from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The Churchill class was based on the older Valiant class, but featured many internal improvements.
An anti-submarine warfare carrier is a type of small aircraft carrier whose primary role is as the nucleus of an anti-submarine warfare hunter-killer group. This type of ship came into existence during the Cold War as a development of the escort carriers used in the ASW role in the North Atlantic during World War II.
Admiral of the Fleet John David Elliott Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse, was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded five submarines and a frigate before achieving higher command from the 1970s. Following the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentine forces in April 1982, Fieldhouse was appointed Commander of the Task Force given responsibility for "Operation Corporate", the mission to recover the Falkland Islands. The campaign ended in the surrender of Argentine forces in June 1982. He became First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff in December that year and, in that role, persuaded the British Government to fund the replacement of ships lost in the Falklands War. He went on to be Chief of the Defence Staff from 1985 until his retirement in 1988.
These are some of the key weapons of the Falklands War used by both sides.
Naval tactics and doctrine is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy ship or fleet in battle at sea during naval warfare, the naval equivalent of military tactics on land.
The Royal Navy Submarine Service is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. It is sometimes known as the Silent Service, as submarines are generally required to operate undetected.
The aftermath of the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina affected world geopolitics, the local political culture in Argentina and the UK, military thought, medical treatment, and the lives of those who were directly involved in the war.
Exercise Spring Train was an annual Royal Navy-led NATO maritime exercise conducted in the Eastern Atlantic. It is most notable for the 1982 exercise which involved seven warships that were subsequently sent to the South Atlantic after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. Because the vessels involved already had full crews and were able to crossdeck supplies from other ships in the exercise the British response was more rapid than would have otherwise been possible. Two of the vessels involved in the exercise, the Type 42 destroyers Sheffield and Coventry, were sunk during the war. There has been speculation that some of the ships sent to the Falklands from Exercise Spring Train were carrying tactical nuclear weapons, which were routinely carried when on NATO deployments. The 1983 edition of the exercise was criticised by the Spanish and Soviet government who considered it provocative.
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