Nuclear submarine HMS Splendid has sailed from her home at Faslane for the last time after more than 20 years service in the Royal Navy.

The Swiftsure-class nuclear submarine made a final trip to Devonport, where she will begin the decommissioning process.

Splendid’s crew paraded at the traditional decommissioning ceremony held at Clyde Naval Base a few days before she departed.

One of the six admirals at the ceremony was Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland (FOSNNI), Rear Admiral Nick Harris, who served as the first navigator of the boat and saw action with her in the Falklands campaign of 1982.

Splendid, whose career spanned 22 years, also had the honour of being the first British submarine to be fitted for Tomahawk cruise missiles, and was the first boat to fire them in anger during the Kosovo campaign in 1999. She also fired them during her final patrol, in the campaign against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

Her final overseas duty was to sail from the Middle East to Singapore, where she took part in exercises with the Singaporean Navy following a short period of maintenance.

Before she left Scotland, her Commanding Officer, Cdr Paul Burke, said: “It is sad to be leaving Faslane after all the marvellous times we have spent here.

“The local teams from HM Naval Base Clyde have given us extraordinary support, from engineers, maintainers and tug boat drivers ensuring the boat was ready for operations, to the hotel services staff who have fed and housed us ashore when the boat has been alongside.

“One support team even flew to the Gulf in March to provide forward support for missile reloading in theatre.”

As Splendid left, with her 45-metre decommissioning pennant fluttering in the breeze, engineers were hard at work building the Astute-class trainer, and planning is under way for jetties which will handle the new-generation submarines, currently in build in Barrow.

Pictures by LA(PHOT) Merrill (FOSNNI)