Following the return for the last time, HMS Sceptre arrived at Devonport (Plymouth) for the last time on Wednesday 25th May 2010.
HMS Sceptre entered port to the sound of the pipes for the final time on Wednesday 26th May after an eight month world-wide deployment and a distinguished 32-year career. Since sailing from HM Naval Base Faslane in October 2009 she has been conducting training and exercises in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic and has now returned to Devonport Naval Base before decommissioning later in the year.
Whilst on deployment Sceptre continuously trained to ensure she was ready to fight and win in any future conflict. This included ensuring she was ready to fire her Tomahawk cruise missiles in case they were needed in support of current operations and taking part in anti-submarine warfare exercises with UK and our international partners’ naval and air forces.
During the 31,000 miles Sceptre covered on the deployment she visited South Africa, Turkey, the UAE and Portugal, building upon the stable and co-operative relationships the Royal Navy enjoys with all four countries.
This final deployment was typical of her role over the last decade, having also been around the world in 2003, 2004 and 2007. Such work is a far cry from the Cold War role she was designed for in the 1970s. She spent the 1970s and 1980s patrolling the North Atlantic, hunting for Soviet submarines. Once the Cold War was over she spent much of the 1990s conducting training and trials with the US, working on joint US/UK submarine and anti-submarine tactics.
Sceptre’s Commanding Officer, Commander Steve Waller, said: “This is a sad day for the submarine community as HMS Sceptre, the last Swiftsure Class submarine still at sea, returns home for the last time. However, we have signed off with a flourish having successfully completed a long and demanding worldwide deployment, contributing to the security and future prosperity of the UK. My crew have lived up to the hard-working reputation of the Swiftsure Class, whilst Sceptre herself has proven how well submarines that began life as archetypal Cold War warriors have adapted to today’s needs”
Here are a few of my pics over the past few years...
During her refit in Rosyth in 2003
Seen here with HMS Spartan
Departing Rosyth dockyard 30 March 2003
A close up off her Conning Tower
And a few from a very recent trip on her from Gibraltar to Devonport
The ward room
The narrow bulkheads
Looking down from the Conning Tower
The steering controls and the main periscope in the foreground
The Ships Laundry (as a crew member said one setting only - Nuclear Inferno)
Junior Rates Mess
Aft Escape Area
Torpedo on the Torpedo Rack
The Torpedo Tube area aka Bomb Alley (this is where I slept for the three days I was on her recently)
Torpedo Tube (FLOODED AND LOADED!)
The Main Engine Control Area
Ships Crest and Badge
Ships Name
My sincere thanks to Commander Steve Waller and the crew for allowing me to join the ship (at Gibraltar) and sail with her on her final three days at sea, it was a fantastic experience, and I hope that you will like my images, off course many of the crew have already asked for images which they already have.