Remembering Richard Farnfield

Captain Richard Farnfield, who has died aged 87, was a Cold War submariner who, in an underwater game of blind man’s bluff, held the record for the longest trail of a Soviet ballistic missile submarine.

In September 1978 Farnfield was commanding the hunter-killer nuclear submarine Sovereign when ordered to find a Soviet submarine in the eastern Atlantic. He had had just two days to familiarise his command team with Sovereign’s latest towed array sonar, which was clipped on from a tug and towed astern.

On September 29, Sovereign commenced Operation Agile Eagle in her patrol area south-west of Rockall, and found nothing until October 6, when intelligence indicated the presence of a Delta-class strategy missile-firing nuclear submarine (SSBN). At 2330 that evening Farnfield located the sub and spent three days slowly closing the range.

For several days Farnfield trailed the Delta, rising occasionally to periscope depth to transmit and receive the signals, but on October 20, when he dived to continue the trail, the Soviet sub unexpectedly began to “clear its arcs”.

British submarines did this by exaggerated turns to port and starboard using passive sonar to check that there was no submarine behind them. Soviet submarines practised another method nicknamed “Crazy Ivan”, which involved reversing course and hurtling down their original path at full speed while using active sonar. On this occasion the Delta passed some 800 yards down Sovereign’s starboard side, yet Sovereign remained undetected.

Sovereign’s patrol was due to end on November 3, but given the exceptional interest being shown in the US and UK it was extended by 42 days, and the patrol area was increased to include the entire Atlantic south of 10° North. On board, food rationing was introduced, which resulted in bread and soup for lunch, no choice for dinner and progressively lighter breakfasts, while tea was strictly rationed.

On October 26, Sovereign was forced to surface for a repair to her communications mast which took 75 minutes. When Farnfield dived and sprinted to regain contact with the Delta, he found that the Soviet submarine was conducting a survey of the contours of the seabed. This was priceless intelligence, indicating as it did a position which might be used by the Soviets as a reference point for underwater navigation.

Contact was lost on November 20, when Sovereign spent several days searching without success, but Farnfield, reasoning that the Delta would pass south-east of Iceland, waited patiently there. He had now been on patrol for more than two months, but his gamble paid off. At 1103 on November 24 he regained contact and followed the Soviet boat from a range of 15 to 20 miles all the way into the Arctic Circle, until it entered the Barents Sea, where he was ordered to break off the trail and withdraw to the south-west.

When he berthed in Devonport on December 6, Farnfield described his experience as “most challenging, testing, wearying and successful”. From initial detection on October 6 until December 1, a period of eight weeks Sovereign had crossed 10,724 miles of ocean and remained in contact with the Delta for 49 days, a record for the longest trail of a Soviet submarine.

“It was hard work,” wrote Farnfield, “for all the watchkeepers over 70 days, physically and mentally tiring, particularly for those most closely involved in the trail.”

Sovereign had obtained valuable electronic and acoustic intelligence particularly about how Soviet commanders operated a Delta-class SSBN, while the Royal Navy and the US Navy now possessed a detailed track, they knew the speed and depth at which it operated, where and when it adjusted course, when the commander carried out a check of his stern arcs, when the submarine came up to periscope depth to communicate, and the various navigational methods used.

Richard Hugh Farnfield was born on December 4 1937 at Leamington Spa, the son of Captain G L Farnfield, DSO, DSC, who was first lieutenant of the destroyer Hereward, which had evacuated Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in May 1940 after the German invasion. Young Farnfield was educated at Malvern College before joining the Navy as a public school entrant in 1956.

Farnfield served almost his entire naval career as a submariner, starting in the diesel-powered Trenchant. He passed the “perisher” in 1968 with the future Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward as “teacher”, his desk jobs in London and Washington were submarine-related, and he was Captain, 10th Submarine Squadron in Faslane (1986-88).

A modest man of good humour yet strong leadership, Farnfield was much admired by his colleagues, who thought that his achievement in Operation Agile Eagle was not adequately recognised.

In retirement he spent some years as a health care manager, was peripatetic and moved homes 24 times, including houses in South Africa and Tenerife. He enjoyed gardening so long as the results were photogenic, and played golf off a 10 handicap.

Farnfield married Deborah Helen Wigram in 1961. She survives him with their daughter and three sons.

Captain RH Farnfield, born December 4 1937, died January 16 2025​.

Obituary taken from The Telegraph, 18.02.2025