Overview
The Astute class are the largest and most advanced attack submarines ever built for the Royal Navy. Astute leads the way with many technological 'firsts' - the first Royal Navy Submarine not to be fitted with optical periscopes (instead high specification video technology is used to scan the horizon) and the class are the quietest ever made.
Equipped with world-leading sensors, the Astute-class carry both Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes. Measuring 97 metres in length the boats can circumnavigate the globe submerged, producing their own oxygen and drinking water.
HMS Astute, HMS Ambush, HMS Artful and HMS Audacious are already in service and were joined in February 2023 by HMS Anson and operate from HMNB Faslane. A further two boats - named Agamemnon and Agincourt - are currently under construction at BAE Systems in Barrow will complete the class.
As well as Astute BAE Systems are also constructing the Dreadnought class submarine which will replace the Barrow-built Vanguard class submarines to maintain the UK’s continuous at sea deterrent (CASD).
The Astute is the latest in a long line of achievements at the Barrow shipyard. With locations around the UK including Frimley Park, Weymouth and Filton, BAE Systems Submarines offer a wide variety of Maritime Submarines - Barrow-in-Furness and Southern Sites.
Astute Class Facts
- Astute class submarines are 97 metres long and weigh 7,400 tonnes
- Astute class submarines are the UK’s largest and most powerful attack submarines and can strike at targets up to 1,000km from the coast with pin-point accuracy.
- Astute submarines are the first nuclear submarines to be designed entirely in a three-dimensional, computer-aided environment.
- If the cables on board an Astute Submarine were laid out end-to-end, they would stretch from Barrow to Preston.
- An Astute submarine’s 90-day dived endurance is only limited by the amount of food that can be carried and the endurance of the crew.
- The Devonshire Dock Hall is BAE Systems Maritime-Submarines main build facility, standing 51m high, 58m wide and 260m long.
- The first submarine for the Royal Navy was built in Barrow, and every submarine currently in service was also built there, Holland 1.
- 10-week patrol the 98-strong crew of a Astute will get through (on average): 18,000 sausages and 4,200 Weetabix for breakfast.
Testing the latest Astute Class Submarine
In Feburary 2022, we announced the achievement of a major milestone in the life of the fifth Barrow-built Astute-class submarine. Under the control of its Royal Navy crew, Anson completed its first trim dive in the town's Devonshire Dock.
Anson naming ceremony
