The Royal Navy’s newest and most advanced nuclear submarine, Astute, took her first dive for an underwater test of her systems on 30 and 31 October 2007.
Astute about to attempt the ‘Trim and Basin Dive’, in the Devonshire Dock at Barrow.
The ‘Trim and Basin Dive’, which took place in Devonshire Dock, Barrow, involved submerging Astute in a dive hole large enough for the 100M-long, 7,400 tonnes boat. The dive was the first time that the submarine had been fully submerged, and provided the opportunity to test the submarine’s underwater stability and systems.
25 of her crew were on board, alongside BAE Systems technicians, to carry out the tests, including trials of various boat systems, equipment and the mechanism that releases an emergency buoy, the emergency escape tower, and various hydraulics and electrical systems.
“The first of class Astute, the most advanced and capable class of submarines ever built for the Royal Navy, has dived beneath the waves for the first time, at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow, North West England,” the company said in a statement last week.”Astute is crammed with some of the world’s most sophisticated technologies, including advanced nuclear reactor, sonar, optical mast, combat management and weapons systems,” BAE Systems said.
“Astute class submarines will play a key role in the defense of the United Kingdom for decades to come. The boats demonstrate a step change in capability when compared to those they will replace,” Easton said.
Astute is the first nuclear submarine to be launched in the UK for almost a decade. She has been built in the UK using the latest and most advanced naval engineering techniques. Construction has been described as more complex than that of the space shuttle.
BAE Systems said the submarine faced two days of tests involving a joint BAE Systems and Royal Navy crew of 60 to check its dive characteristics, along with safety critical systems including escape hatches, hydraulics and electrics.
The submarine is due to undergo further engineering and commissioning work at the Devonshire Dry-dock in Barrow before being delivered to the Royal Navy in fall 2008. It is scheduled to begin its operational duty in 2009.
BAE Systems said that, as Britain’s only manufacturer of submarines, it was “responsible for the design, build and initial in-service support of the four 7,400 ton Astute class boats currently under various stages of construction and commissioning at its Barrow facility.”
Astute is the first vessel of four in the Astute class currently under build and commissioning at Barrow. The other three are Ambush, Artful and Audacious.
