The Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine is returning to base after 201 days underwater in the North Sea.
HMS Vengeance travelled back to its base in Faslane on the banks of the River Clyde on Monday allowing its exhausted crew to finally set foot on dry land once again.
It comes after the boat’s hide-and-seek mission began on August 29 which saw it wait under the sea for seven months in readiness to launch Trident if necessary, with its captain unable to be named for legal reasons.
Now all 132 crew members will have to readjust to life on land after they were unable to contact their families, see sunlight or eat fresh food during the mission.
During their time underwater a large part of their diet consisted of defrosted oranges and dried egg powder.
Crew members undertook six-hour-long shifts in what was one of the longest submarine missions undertaken by the Royal Navy as they all squeezed into the 491ft-long metal tube.
While working the staff had their sleep disrupted and were deprived of fresh air along with many suffering vitamin deficiencies as a result.
Common health issues among submariners include ear problems, joint disorders and an increased risk of certain cancers. But former sailors say the biggest trial of the job is being cut off from their loved ones.
Unlike attack submarines which do rise to the surface of the ocean during their missions and give their crews some respite in the process, ballistic missile vessels known as bombers remain hidden on the seabed.
As bomber submarines are ‘receive only’ craft, crew members could only read heavily vetted ‘family grams’ from the outside world and were unable to respond – as sending a signal would have risked revealing the sub’s location.
Information which could cause crew members distress was also deleted by their captain who got the first view of all correspondence.
One officer who had served on Vengeance told the MailOnline: “The daily rhythms change soon after leaving port, everything gets shorter.
“Everything works most of the time and the submarine is impenetrable. Certainly, there are physical challenges but it is the emotional and mental aspects of the job that are more difficult.
“You worry most about what’s happening to your families, someone very close to you might have taken their own lives, one of your children might have developed a dreadful disease.
“Your wife or husband might want a divorce, their could be someone different living in your house, a different car on your drive; but you just won’t know.’ Months later, when you finally return to port, people will have grieved, they will have moved on, everyone looks very different and seems to act very different.
“Being a submariner is an amazing job, you get paid maybe £14,000 more than a year than if you were on a sailor on a warship, but you’ll miss everyone’s birthdays and Christmas.”
The patrol is believed to be the second-longest in Royal Navy history, although senior naval sources refused to confirm the length of any previous deployments.
