One of the highlights of naval careers tends to be the deployment to far-off lands, calling in at exotic ports and seeing some of the classic tourist attractions.

This sort of deployment – vital for maintaining British diplomatic and commercial interests around the globe – sometimes falls to a carrier, but more often to a frigate or destroyer.

So the chance for a submarine to undertake such a trip, to Australia and back, was generally greeted with enthusiasm by those on board HMS Turbulent.

Turbulent was the second of the Trafalgar-class boats built at Barrow-in-Furness, and was launched in December 1982.

As a nuclear-powered attack submarine, she is designed to move swiftly and silently underwater for weeks on end, her only limitation being the needs of the crew. She displaces more than 5,200 tons when dived.

When Turbulent’s Commanding Officer, Cdr Andy Coles, took his boat out of Devonport in January, it reinforced the pace at which the Navy’s attack submarine fleet operates.

Turbulent had been at sea for ten months of the previous year, including operations off Iraq, and Christmas was a busy period as the boat and her crew prepared for this major deployment.

Part of January was spent proving to the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST organisation that the boat was in good shape. One task given to Turbulent was to sneak up on a task group exercising off Cornwall without revealing the boat’s presence.

The deployment proper got off to an inauspicious start when the planned transfer of personnel off Plymouth was cancelled because of gale-force winds, which also resulted in minor damage to Turbulent’s mooring bollards.

So the submarine headed south, where the bollards were repaired in the calm waters of Gibraltar Bay by the boat’s marine engineers, and the delayed transfer of personnel could be completed.

Warm-weather trials ended with a visit to Toulon in France, when families flew out to see their loved ones, and some of the crew headed along the coast to Marseille, Nice, Monaco and St Tropez, soaking up the atmosphere of the Cote d’Azur.

But for others it was business as usual, with maintenance and run-of-the-mill repairs to be carried out before heading east of Suez.

The approach to the Suez Canal was more like the Bay of Biscay than the Mediterranean, with driving wind and rough seas, but Turbulent queue-jumped a convoy of 14 large merchantmen, which were waiting for better weather, and she sailed through the canal in splendid isolation with destroyer HMS Newcastle providing protection.

With the warmer waters of the Red Sea came higher temperatures on board, so the chance to get up on to the casing to enjoy some fresh air was always welcomed – and fortunately, calm seas made that possible on a regular basis throughout the deployment.

Turbulent then took a left turn into the Gulf, where the boat’s sports teams had a run out in Bahrain, losing at rugby (29-7) and football (4-3), despite fervent support.

At Bahrain Cdr Coles was also able to award the prized Dolphins badges to seven recently-qualified crew members, who received them in the Silent Service fashion – catching them in their teeth from the bottom of a tot of rum.

The submarine then entered an operational period, which ended with a visit to Singapore, and which marked the half-way point of the deployment – and another chance for families to meet up with the submariners.

The visit offered a chance to do some serious shopping as well as seeing the sights – with tea at the Raffles Hotel a must for several of the crew.

Back at sea, a horse-race night (a traditional Naval fund-raiser, played with counters, large dice and a course marked out on the deck) gave the more creative sailors a chance to show what they could do, and a strong field of ‘horses’ was the result, each produced by a different mess.

There was a clear winner in the design stakes – PO Edwards produced a pony several hands high, made over many weeks from redundant metal canisters, papier maché, and coloured with gravy.

Crossing the equator southwards, more fine weather allowed Cdr Coles to stop the boat, and more than 20 of the crew swam across the line – a welcome break after six weeks submerged.

Once into the southern hemisphere, more than 30 of the crew who had never crossed the line paid their dues as tradition dictates at the court of King Neptune, which mostly involved being plastered in messy substances, washed off as the ‘offenders’ were thrown into the sea.

The passage south also gave the crew a chance to vote for the Man of the Boat, the person they felt had added most to the morale and operational efficiency of the submarine. The winner for this year was RS Dave Waldock.

Fremantle in Australia was the next port of call – the first by a British submarine since 1997.

The reception from locals was outstanding, according to Cdr Coles, with a busy round of formal and social events, and sports fixtures keeping the crew busy. One day was also set aside or UK defence contractors to showcase their equipment.

Shortly before arriving in Fremantle, a 36-hour head-to-head exercise was organised with Australian Collins-class conventional submarine HMAS Dechaineux, which resulted in a lively but good-natured wash-up afterwards.

Dechaineux’s sister submarine HMAS Sheean acted as host vessel for Turbulent while she was alongside in Fremantle, near Perth – and although the Australian midwinter weather was poor, with strong winds and heavy rain most days, the Brits managed to range far and wide during the ten days, taking in some professional sport along the way.

The boat sailed again in mid-June, stuffed full of didgeridoos and boomerangs, and went straight into a gruelling 13-day transit of the southern Indian Ocean.

Poor weather dogged Turbulent for part of the crossing, and it was a sobering time for all on board as they went for days without any contacts at all.

“The Southern Indian Ocean is a very empty ocean,” said Cdr Coles. “Not much shipping goes across it, it tends to stick closer to the coasts.

“We really were moving quite fast across it, but every day we would look at the plot and see there was still a huge distance to cover – it makes you realise just how big the world is.”

Simons Town in South Africa gave the crew another chance to unwind, staying in hotels and making the most of tourist attractions around the Cape.

Some submariners helped finish off four new houses in a township – part of the ‘Habitat for Humanity’ programme and a good counterbalance to the opulence of the area in which the crew’s hotels were situated.

A Services Entertainment show was put on for Turbulent, including singers, dancers and comedians.

Great White shark diving proved tempting for some, while others went skydiving or on safari, but the wildlife was even closer to hand for those who stayed close to the submarine, which was berthed near a colony of jackass penguins.

The recrossing of the Equator (with another 17 first-timers on board) was done deep underwater on the passage north, and the stop at Gibraltar on this occasion gave the submarine a chance to drop off an advance party and pick up almost a dozen fathers and sons – an unusual event for an RN boat.

“We had briefings and exercises, including simulated attacks, a firefighting demonstration to show them, and they all had a chance to steer the submarine by taking the helm,” said Cdr Coles.

“They ranged in age from a teenager to ‘Grandad’ Rogers, who was 76, the grandfather of one of our OMs. Everyone on board just called him Grandad.

“He was not Navy – it was his first time on a submarine – but he joined in just about everything, and when he left in Devonport he said to me he would be reporting back for duty on Monday.”

By the time the boat returned home to Devonport she had steamed 33,500 nautical miles, and been away for 182 days – of which 147 were actually at sea.

Turbulent operated with a crew of around 120, taken from a pool of 180, with major personnel changes taking place at Bahrain, Singapore, Fremantle in Australia and Simons Town in South Africa.

Ten of the crew stayed with the boat for the entire trip, including her Commanding Officer Cdr Andy Coles.

The most easterly point of the deployment came when the submarine was alongside at Fremantle, near Perth, which also marked the furthest point from home.

The subsequent crossing of the Southern Indian Ocean also marked the southernmost limit of the deployment, at 45 degrees 10 minutes south.