Facts and Figures
Class:	Swiftsure-class Fleet SSN - ship submersible nuclear
Pennant number:	S12
Builder:	VSEL, Barrow
Launched:	October 5, 1979
Commissioned:	March 21, 1981
Displacement:	4,200 tonnes
Length:	82.9 metres (272ft)
Beam:	10.1 metres (33ft)
Draught:	8.5 metres (28ft)
Armament:	Sub-Harpoon missiles; Tigerfish heavyweight torpedoes; being fitted for TLAM (Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles) trials
Sensors:	Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 navigational radar; Type 2020 Bow Array sonar; additional sonars for oceanographic analysis and navigation
Combat Data System:	DCB/DCG
Propulsion:	One Rolls-Royce pressurised water nuclear reactor 1, two WH Allen turbo generators, one Paxman diesel alternator, one emergency drive motor
Speed:	In excess of 20 knots, dived
Complement:	116 (13 officers)
Affiliations:	Blackpool; 1st Battalion The Black Watch; Manchester URNU; TS Penelope; Kelly College CCF
	Battle Honours Mediterranean 1942 North Africa 1942 Falklands 1982

Splendid Finale
Text from Ships Of The Royal Navy No. 309 (August 1981)
The commissioning of HMS Splendid this year marked the final entry into Royal Navy service of a Swiftsure-class nuclear-powered submarine.

Five have preceded her and, following completion of work-up in October, the Splendid will join them as an operational unit, designed to roam the oceans, seeking out and destroying enemy submarines and surface ships.

In July she returned from Gibraltar where she completed deep discharge trials of her torpedoes and undertook sonar acceptance trails. While there she won the Finwhale Trophy - an annual sports trophy for submarines.

The new vessel is armed with Tigerfish, a wire-guided anti-submarine torpedo, and is soon to carry Sub-Harpoon, and underwater-launched anti-ship missile.

She is capable of circumnavigating the world without surfacing, manufacturing her own fresh water and oxygen for her 116-man crew.

Her nuclear reactor provides heat to make steam for driving turbines geared to the boat's propeller. Massive electrical power- enough to supply a large town - is also generated to run the computer-backed sensors used to detect surface and submarine targets while at depth.

HMS Splendid was launched at Barrow on October 5, 1979 by Lady Ann Eberle, wife of Admiral Sir James Eberle, then Commander-in-Chief Fleet. The boat was built by Vickers Shipbuilding Groups and is under the command of Cdr. R C Lane-Nott.