Royal Navy's Most Potent Attack Submarine Launched
The Royal Navy’s newest super-submarine, Astute, was launched today, 8
June 2007, by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall at the BAE Systems shipyard
in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria.

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.

Far bigger and more potent than the current class of attack
submarines, this super stealthy vessel is almost 100m long, and weighs
7,400 tonnes. She will never need to be refuelled and her advanced
on-board life support systems mean she can circumnavigate the globe
without needing to surface.

www.royalnavy.mod.uk/hmsastute