{"id":13182,"date":"2013-05-24T11:41:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T11:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=2173af4b6253ab63a810028c70d17629"},"modified":"2013-05-24T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T11:41:00","slug":"news-story-royal-navy-submarine-returns-from-longest-patrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=13182","title":{"rendered":"News story: Royal Navy submarine returns from longest patrol"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HMS Trenchant returned to Devonport exactly 11 months to the day she sailed on what became the longest patrol ever completed by one of the Royal Navy\u2019s hunter-killer boats.<\/p>\n

Around 200 family members were waiting at Plymouth for their loved ones to return after 335 days away; 267 spent east of Suez. <\/p>\n

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A submariner by HMS Trenchant’s fin conveys orders to crewmates [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Ben Shread, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To mark their achievements on that record-breaker – beating HMS Tireless\u2019s 2010\/11 patrol by 12 days \u2013 the ship\u2019s company of 130 men were personally thanked by Britain\u2019s most senior military figure, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards, who joined the boat at Plymouth Breakwater for the final few moments of its marathon tour of duty.<\/p>\n

Once alongside, tears flowed and smiles beamed as crew members and families were reunited.<\/p>\n

Thanks to rotation of the 170-strong crew, at least 40 of Trenchant\u2019s ship\u2019s company have been at home at any one time, but 7 submariners, \u2018Black Watch\u2019, completed the whole 11-month deployment.<\/p>\n

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Submariners enjoy their work so they are not affected by long deployments and simply get on with their duties, meeting every challenge head-on,\u201d said Trenchant\u2019s Commanding Officer, Commander Irvine Lindsay.<\/p>\n

Whilst I am enormously proud of the achievements of my ship\u2019s company, I do not believe that they are a unique body of men. I am convinced that the resilience, dedication, professional pride and sheer grit demonstrated by this ship\u2019s company is indicative of the high calibre of personnel serving across the whole of the Submarine Service \u2013 and indeed the Royal Navy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Submariners erect the Union Jack on HMS Trenchant’s for’d casing [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Ben Shread, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Commander Lindsay, who was met by his wife, Janet, added:<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m looking forward to fresh air outside a submarine, to a full night\u2019s sleep instead of being woken up to go into the control room and to climbing the Cairngorms, far from the sea.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Lieutenant Commander Stuart Barrie, the submarine\u2019s weapon engineer officer, was greeted by his wife, Fiona, and their excited children, Niamh, aged 3, and Toby, 6, from Plymouth:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s fantastic to be back home after so long,\u201d said Lieutenant Commander. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit surreal really after so long away. I last saw them 5 months ago; the longest I\u2019ve been away from them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His wife, Fiona, added:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s great to have Stu back. The children are so excited to have their daddy back. Toby wants to show him all the swimming certificates he\u2019s got and his good school reports. And Niamh\u2019s going to show her daddy her dancing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Band of HM Royal Marines Plymouth plays for HMS Trenchant’s arrival [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Ben Shread, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The long-awaited homecoming was marked by families with traditional welcoming banners at Devil\u2019s Point, while families waiting in the Naval Base itself were entertained by the Band of HM Royal Marines Plymouth as they waited impatiently for Trenchant to tie up.<\/p>\n

Daniel Tookey, a tactical systems operator from Plymouth, was welcomed by his wife, Lisa, and son Lucas, aged 2, who was dressed in a sailor\u2019s suit.<\/p>\n

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It is a great relief to be home after so long away,\u201d he said. \u201cI was so longing to see Lisa and Lucas. I want to bath him and spend time with them both, to eat when and what I want and to sleep in my own bed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the latest Royal Navy hunter-killer submarine to uphold the Silent Service\u2019s presence in the Middle East \u2013 a mission going back to 2001 \u2013 Trenchant spent 267 days east of Suez.<\/p>\n

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A woman watches HMS Trenchant return to Devonport [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Ben Shread, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some 37 crew completed the patrol as fully-qualified submariners having earned their coveted Dolphins badges as the boat added 38,800 nautical miles to her odometer \u2013 that\u2019s the equivalent of sailing around the world one-and-three-quarter times.<\/p>\n

The impressive statistics don\u2019t end there. Trenchant spent 4,700 hours dived; that\u2019s six-and-a-half months without sunlight. <\/p>\n

The long patrol meant the crew consumed: <\/p>\n

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  • 30,240 eggs \u2013 which would take 45 hens laying 2-a-day the length of the deployment to achieve<\/li>\n
  • 7,904 litres of milk; the average dairy cow produces about 21 litres a day, so just over a year\u2019s work for a single cow<\/li>\n
  • 20,592 sausages (called \u2018snorkers\u2019 by submariners) which, laid end to end, would stretch approximately 2 kilometres<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In all Trenchant\u2019s chefs cooked 103,350 meals, and produced over 44,000 homemade rolls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered submarine HMS Trenchant returned home from a record-breaking 11-month deployment on Wednesday, 22 May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13210,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182\/revisions\/13210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}