We would like to place Cookies on your computer to give you the best possible experience when you visit our website. If you are happy with the current Cookie settings and want to continue to use this website as normal, click 'OK'. You also have the option to change these settings, plus learn more about Cookies and how we use them. More information on Cookies.

OK
Change settings

Sign into my account

Forgot your username Forgot your password

Protecting our Nation's Interests

Skip to main content
Fleet Submarines
HMS Triumph

HMS Triumph

HMS Triumph is the latest and most capable Trafalgar-Class submarine. HMS Triumph is the last of seven Trafalgar-class submarines, and in March 2011 was prominent in Operation Ellamy in Libya, firing the first shots of Britain’s involvement in the shape of cruise missile strikes from the Mediterranean. She is the tenth RN warship (and the second submarine) to bear that name, the first being a 58-gun galleon launched in 1562.

  • HMS Triumph

  • HMS Triumph

She was launched by VSEL in Barrow in 1991 and is based in Devonport. The Fleet Submarine can stay at sea unsupported for up to three months, and is very versatile, able to fill a variety of roles from tactical strike to fleet protection to intelligence gathering.

She is equipped with both cruise missiles and Spearfish torpedoes, giving her a far-reaching offensive capability.

She has a typical complement of 120–130 personnel, of which up to 20 will be officers.

COMMANDING OFFICER

Dan Clarke

Dan Clarke
RANK:
Commander
JOINED:
1994
SPECIALISATION:
Warfare
PREVIOUS UNITS:
HMS Trenchant, Torbay, Vigilant, Tireless, Turbulent, Triumph,
Military experience

Dan Clarke was born in Birmingham in 1974 and educated at The Clough Hall School, Stoke-on-Trent before entering Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth as a Midshipman in 1994.

Following Initial Fleet Training with the Surface Flotilla, Dan sub-specialised in submarines earning his Dolphins in 1997 during his first compliment assignments in HMS Torbay and HMS Trenchant.

Successful completion of the Submarine Intermediate Warfare Course was followed by promotion to Lieutenant and assignment to HMS Vigilant (Port) in 1999 as the Signal Communications Officer. During this time he conducted a number of SSBN patrols in support of maintaining the UK’s continuous at sea nuclear deterrent.

Post Submarine Advanced Warfare Course, he was fortunate to be seconded to the US Navy where he deployed on operations with the Seawolf Class USS Connecticut which, at the time, was the world’s newest nuclear submarine.

On return to the UK he joined HMS Tireless in 2002 as the Tactical Systems Officer. During a busy 2 year assignment Dan completed a number of operational patrols, progressed to the role of Operations Officer and undertook a training and research deployment to the North Pole as part of the Joint UK/US 2004 Ice Exercise (ICEX).

Assignment to the Royal Navy Submarine School in 2005 allowed him to pass on his experiences to the next generation of submariners when he spent 6 months teaching the Advanced Warfare Course.

He remained ashore completing the Submarine Command Course (Perisher) before returning to sea service as the Executive Officer of HMS Turbulent in 2006; he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and spent the next 3 years undertaking a variety of operations and foreign visits.

Prior to promotion to Commander and assuming command of HMS Triumph in 2012, Dan worked for Commodore Naval Personnel where he was responsible for the Career Management of SM Warfare Officers during a very challenging period of manpower restructuring post the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Any spare time remaining from trying to tire out his 7 year old son is spent swimming, completing the occasional Half Marathon or, now that his playing career enters its twilight years, watching local rugby and football.


UNIT DIARY

Surface Fleet
HMS Triumph
  • HMS Triumph due to return to operational duties21/05/13

    Following a fantastic couple of years, HMS Triumph is due to return to operational duties after a short refit in her home port.

    Read more

ABOUT THE UNIT

KEY STATISTICS


Pennant

S93

Displacement (Dived)

5,298Tonnes

Displacement (Surfaced)

4,740Tonnes

Complement

130Personnel

Length

85.4Metres

Beam

9.8Metres

Draught

9.5Metres

Top Speed

32Knots

Number of Officers

18

Launch Date

16/02/91

Commissioned Date

12/10/91

TAKE A LOOK

    • image

      HMS Triumph crew receive Libya Medals

    • image

      HMS Triumph crew receive Libya Medals

    • image

      HMS Triumph crew receive Libya Medals

    • image

      AB Lynford, McNair, Williamson, Milburn.

    • image

      Brigadier General Khalifa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa

      Brigadier General Khalifa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Commander of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force looking through HMS Triumph's periscope

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Triumph home from striking another blow against the Gaddafi regime

      HMS TRIUMPH RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT

    • image

      Worship Company of Upholders

      TRIUMPH AFFILIATES VISIT HMS DRAKE The Triumph affiiate members visit HMNB Dovnport and HMS Drake and have the opportunity to have lunch in the Wardroom. Pictured here at the Wardroom, HMS Drake.

    • image

      Worship Company of Upholders

      TRIUMPH AFFILIATES VISIT HMS DRAKE The Triumph affiiate members visit HMNB Dovnport and HMS Drake and have the opportunity to have lunch in the Wardroom. Pictured here at the Wardroom, HMS Drake.

    • image

      From one Triumph to another

    • image

      From one Triumph to another

    • image

      HMS TRIUMPH

      A stunning Scottish west coast sunrise heralded the arrival of HMS Triumph to Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde at the weekend.Triumph, which is normally based at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth, has been taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior as part of her cycle of operational sea training. She is making a short visit to the Clyde naval base as a routine call, before continuing with her training programme.Thirty ships, three submarines, seven helicopter units, 14 land based air units and 11 separate ground forces have battled it out over the last two weeks as part of Europe’s largest military exercise, which takes place twice a year, primarily around Scotland’s coastline.Joint Warrior brings together NATO allies and some forces from other invited nations – this time, apart from the UK and the United States, other countries taking part were Canada, Italy, France, Estonia, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    • image

      HMS TRIUMPH

      A stunning Scottish west coast sunrise heralded the arrival of HMS Triumph to Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde at the weekend. Triumph, which is normally based at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth, has been taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior as part of her cycle of operational sea training. She is making a short visit to the Clyde naval base as a routine call, before continuing with her training programme. Thirty ships, three submarines, seven helicopter units, 14 land based air units and 11 separate ground forces have battled it out over the last two weeks as part of Europe’s largest military exercise, which takes place twice a year, primarily around Scotland’s coastline. Joint Warrior brings together NATO allies and some forces from other invited nations – this time, apart from the UK and the United States, other countries taking part were Canada, Italy, France, Estonia, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    • image

      HMS TRIUMPH November Ceremonies 2011

    • image

      HMS TRIUMPH November Ceremonies 2011

    • image

      HMS TRIUMPH November Ceremonies 2011

    • image

    • image

      HMS Triumph

    • image

      HMS Triumph

    • image

      HMS Triumph

UNITS IN TIME


HMS Triumph HISTORY

TRACK THE HISTORY OF SHIPS NAMED HMS Triumph
  • The First HMS Triumph

    The first Triumph was laid down in Deptford in 1561 and was launched in October 1562. A 68-gun galleon, with a nominal burden of 1,000 tons, she was claimed to be the largest ship built in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. This first Triumph served to great effect as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Martin Frobisher during the Battle of the Spanish Armada in 1588. She was rebuilt in 1595-96, and served until 1618, when she was broken up.

  • The Second HMS Triumph

    Like her predecessor, the second Triumph was built in Deptford and launched in 1623. While she was initially a 44-gun Great Ship (better known as a Second Rate), she underwent numerous refits which saw her increase in size. This HMS Triumph was the most decorated of all her namesakes; she figured prominently in the Anglo-Dutch wars and was awarded ten battle honours during her distinguished 65-year service. She was finally sold in 1688 with an extra deck and a total of 72 guns.

  • The Third HMS Triumph

    Also a Second Rate Ship, the third HMS Triumph was built with 90 guns and launched at Chatham Dockyard. She was renamed HMS Prince in 1714 and then remained in service for most of the century before being broken up in 1773. It was during this time and under this new name that she saw her only major action, participating in the Battle of Lagos in 1759.

  • The Fourth HMS Triumph

    The fourth Triumph was a Spanish 18-gun sloop Triunfo, captured on November 23 1739 at Puerto Bello. She foundered in 1740 less than a year after her capture.

  • The Fifth HMS Triumph

    The fifth HMS Triumph’s was built in Woolwich in 1764 and spent 49 years of her 86 year commission at sea. She was the second of the Valiant Class – a new class of ship for the Royal Navy having been based on a captured French Frigate. They were longer and more heavily armed than other 74 gun Third Rate Class ships of the time. This design proved itself in the two main battles in which she participated – Camperdown and Cape Finisterre.

  • The Sixth HMS Triumph

    In 1860 a new ship was laid down in 1860 in Pembroke Dock that was to be named HMS Triumph. However, when Prince Albert died in December 1861 it was renamed HMS Prince Consort in memorial. The name was used again nine years later as the second of the two Swiftsure-class battleships, built by Palmers on the Tyne, was named HMS Triumph. Built with retractable propellers for better performance undfer saiil – and this small class was renowned for its sailing qualities – these ships were designed and built specifically to serve as flagships on distant stations, primarily with the Pacific Squadron. HMS Triumph served in this post between 1877 to 1882 and again from 1885 to 1888. Following this foreign service she acted as a reserve vessel until being disarmed and removed of all machinery to act as a training vessel under the name of HMS Tenedos. She was later to act as a hulk, and take the names Indus IV and Algiers, before she was sold for breaking at Sunderland in 1921.

  • The Seventh HMS Triumph

    This ship was one of two British-built battleships ordered by Chile in 1902 as the Libertad in preparation for a potential war with Argentina. When the Argentine threat did not materialise they put them up for sale in order to ease a financial crisis. To prevent the Russians buying them they were bought by the Royal Navy and the second of the class was named HMS Triumph. Having been designed for a different Navy this Triumph was lightly armed and armoured compared to standard Royal Naval warships of the time. Purchased solely to deny her acquisition by other navies, the seventh Triumph – an 11,800-ton ‘lightweight’ battleship – did not match Admiralty standards in many ways and could not form part of the line of battle. Furthermore, like all pre-dreadnoughts, she was made obsolete by the revolutionary new design of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. She nonetheless had a useful and eventful career, playing an active role in British operations on foreign stations during the First World War until her loss as part of the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915. She was one of the first battleships to enter the Turkish Straits in February and served with distinction until her loss at Gaba Tepe on May 25 1915 when she was torpedoed by enemy submarine U-21.

  • The Eighth HMS Triumph

    One of 53 T-class submarines built for service during World War 2, the eighth HMS Triumph initially served in the North Sea before hitting a German mine on Boxing Day 1939 just nine months after being commissioned. Under protection from fighter aircraft and escorted by several destroyers, HMS Triumph managed to limp home and by September 1940 was repaired and ready for action in the Mediterranean and as part of the Malta Convoys. In this time she sank or damaged 22 enemy vessels including the Italian submarine Salpa, dispatched by a torpedo after a long surface gun duel. She was also heavily utilised in the deployment of Special Forces and covert operations and successfully carried out this role in December 1941 when she landed agents in Greece. This was the last known whereabouts of HMS Triumph and it is believed she struck a mine in January 1942, sinking with the loss of all hands.

  • The Ninth HMS Triumph

    The ninth HMS Triumph was a 13,350-ton Colossus-class aircraft carrier, built by Hawthorn Leslie and launched on November 2 1944, though she commissioned shortly after hostilities ended. The Collossus-class emerged as an expedient solution to a critical shortage of combat aircraft carriers, a need which became apparent after the loss of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse to Japanese air attack during the Fall of Singapore. Based on an existing carrier design, the Colossus-class was reduced in size and intended to be available within two years. In 1950 she was en route to Japan when hostilities broke out in Korea. In the early part of the war she was the only Royal Naval carrier in the Far East and played a key role; she flew hundreds of combat air patrols to great effect. She was finally relieved by one of her sister ships, HMS Theseus, in September 1950. Following her Korean service she acted as a cadet training ship, as a trials platform for a new type of flight deck and a heavy repair shipbefore being scrapped in Spain in 1981.

LATEST NEWS

 

TOP STORIES

HMS Triumph crew receive Libya Medals
Submariners 'Pride' in Libya Operations Medal
13 December 2012

Royal Navy sailors from the Plymouth-based Trafalgar-class hunter killer submarine...

AB Lynford, McNair, Williamson, Milburn.
Pride Runs Deep in Blackpool
01 October 2012

Pride Runs Deep is a phrase usually coined by Submariner’s...

HMS Triumph CO Rob Commander Dunn on fin Devonport
Royal Navy Submarine returns to Plymouth with love on their minds
30 July 2012

The Plymouth-based submarine HMS Triumph returned home to Plymouth yesterday...

Triumph and Daring
Johnson & Johnson join forces as father and son link up in the Middle East
20 June 2012

Father and son Simon and Chris Johnson enjoyed some rare...

View All Triumph's News

Recruiting Now

The featured jobs are available now

More Info

I'm Interested in:
  • Explore Opportunities Engineering Technician (Marine Engineering)
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Royal Marines Officer
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Engineering Technician (Marine Engineering)(Submariner)
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Royal Marines Other Ranks
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Engineering Technician (Weapon Engineering)
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Naval Nurse (Qualified)
    More info
  • Explore Opportunities Engineering Technician (Weapons Engineering Submariner)
    More info

Other Features

Naval Service

Latest News
Latest News

Royal Navy

RN Facebook
Royal Navy

Royal Navy

Events
calendar

Royal Navy

Media Centre
media

Naval Service

Forums
Community Forums
Follow us on Facebook