Nuclear power for ship and submarine propulsion has proven to be rather expensive and dangerous for the environment; as a consequence, it has only been applied to large ships and submarines of the navies of some countries equipped with such technology. The major advantage that nuclear power provides to warships is their unlimited practically speaking range of action. The nuclear-powered submarines can remain submerged for a period of a few months with the sole need for replenishing food every few months. This allows them to move across the oceans maintaining obscurity and, as such, not allow themselves to be targeted by the weapons of the opponent. Thus, they are excellent first-nuclear-strike launch units or prevention (units) of attempting first-opponent-strike as they launch a second-strike having survived the first-nuclear-attack-wave unscathed.

HMS Splendid was ordered on 26 May 1976 as the last of the six Swiftsure-class submarines. Ever since the time of joining the British Fleet in 1979 up to her decommission in 2004, she participated in many operations involving British forces around the world. In 1982 she participated in the Falklands War; Splendid was one of the first submarines to reach the islands, arriving in mid-April. In November 1998 the British Royal Navy acquired the initial operational capability for the American-built Tomahawk cruise missile with the deployment of the missile at Splendid. A few months later, in 1999 she participated in the Kosovo war firing Tomahawk missiles at Serbian targets just as in 2003 during the war against Iraq. In 2004 she was decommissioned in Plymouth.