NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2009 7
Roll out of Barrow
● HMS Astute makes her way from Barrow to
Faslane on her fi rst voyage – and the fi rst phase
of sea trials Picture: LA(Phot) JJ Massey
THEY have waited a long
Trident boats, the massive facility spaces on board for every before she sailed on her think a lot of people would want for operating the class for the next
time, but at last the crew of
swung back into action. member of the crew. maiden voyage. my job today. two decades and more.
the Navy’s most powerful
As Astute took shape – as the We will take a closer Squeezing past sailors “I didn’t think it would be But for now it is a question of
giant rings were welded together look at life on board who were busy storing possible to beat taking Turbulent settling in and enjoying life on
Fleet submarine have their and massive modules, assembled Astute next month, and ships (it would appear around the world – and on five a shiny new boat – though with
hands on the controls,
elsewhere on site, were slotted into for the old and bold a box of Magnums operational patrols. dozens of technicians on board
writes Mike Gray.
her pressure hull – designers and submariners it will had come to grief “But taking Astute to sea – the monitoring her progress, as well
And very different controls
workers alike took the opportunity come as something as everybody was first of class – is a lovely feeling.” as RN sea riders, her normal
to innovate. of a revelation. enjoying an ice There is plenty of work to do complement of around 100 has
they are, too – the world of the
The building process was The boat is cream, despite the on the boat before she can take swollen to a cosy 135.
deeps has been brought very
refined as lessons were learnt and considerably larger deteriorating weather her place on an unseen front “Astute represents the sum of
much into the 21st century old dogs picked up new tricks. than the S- and outside) it was clear line somewhere in the world’s thousands of individual efforts,
with HMS Astute. And technological advances T-boats she is designed that some aspects of oceans. and everyone involved in her
Her keel was laid down in meant Astute would be a world to replace – though a lot of Astute were still very An intensive programme of sea creation can be proud,” said
January 2001 – or, at least, a leader when she finally nosed the nooks and crannies have much traditional Silent trials lies ahead, a programme Rear Admiral Simon Lister,
massive steel ring was unveiled to through the narrow channel out been filled with new kit, so there is Service. which began as she made the Director Submarines for Defence
the media and assorted dignitaries of Ramsden Dock and into the not the sense of spaciousness that Droll comments and deadpan short trip north on the surface Equipment and Support.
and guests in the cavernous open sea. her dimensions might suggest. faces are common currency in from Barrow to her new home “Submarine building combines
Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow, Her reactor will not need to It is more than two years since Her Majesty’s submarines, but at Clyde Naval Base, where she a huge variety of elements.
submarine-builder to the nation be refuelled during her projected Astute was slowly wheeled out those escorting us around made it received an enthusiastic welcome “Sometimes it is more like
for more than 100 years. lifetime; periscopes are now from her birthplace, shrouded in clear that there is a sense of pride on a grey, rainy Friday. blacksmithing manipulating the
The hall was pretty empty then, electronic requiring no hull- dry ice and surrounded by flashing in being the team which brings Not only will her hull, her steel of the hull, and sometimes
but as BAE Systems Submarine piercing tubes; and for the first lights on a sunny June day. Astute into the Fleet. systems and her sensors be it is like brain surgery, dealing
Solutions picked up the traces time in a Fleet submarine there It was a very different scene That sense of pride was summed fully tested, but the crew will be with advanced technology and
which had been cast aside with the will be no need for ‘hot bunking’, when a select group of journalists up by her Commanding Officer, responsible for writing her ‘owner’s performing tasks to an almost
HMS Vengeance, the last of the where there are not enough was invited on board just days Cdr Andy Coles, who said: “I manual’ – they will set the pattern unbelievable level of accuracy.”
HERE TO LISTEN,
.
SC038056
NOT TO JUDGE
ity (Scotland) No
The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and
Families Association (SSAFA) Forces
1885, Registered Char
Help, runs a Confidential Support Line for
anyone in the Armed Forces. We don't
.
210760 Est.
take names, ranks or numbers, and we
ity No
are independent of the chain of
command.
Registered Char
csl.ssafa.org.uk
0800 731 4880
007_NN_dec.indd 1 20/11/09 15:11:47
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48