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The Astute class submarines are the next generation nuclear attack submarines of the Royal Navy. When completed, the boats will comprise the largest nuclear-powered attack submarines the service has fielded.

Background

As the Swiftsure-class submarines aged, the Royal Navy began to design their replacements. The original design called for large submarines designed for blue-water operations. Feasibility studies began in 1986 and were completed by 1989. A design contract was placed with Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. (VSEL) in 1987, but with the end of the Cold War the project was cancelled in 1992. Emphasis switched to the production of a second batch of Trafalgar-class submarines (Batch 2 Trafalgar Class or B2TC). However the development was extremely slow and initial tenders received from VSEL in June 1995 were too expensive.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy has changed its submarine-employment strategy from the Cold War emphasis on anti-submarine warfare to the concept of "Maritime Contributions to Joint Operations." The proposed replacement boats were redesigned; the primary mission of the Astute class became direct support of surface forces.

Original plans were for seven boats of the Astute class to replace five Swiftsure-class submarines (Sovereign, Superb, Sceptre, Spartan, and Splendid) and the two oldest Trafalgar-class boats (Trafalgar and Turbulent). Plans, however, have been scaled back. The Swiftsure-class will be entirely decommissioned by 2010, when only the first of the Astute-class will be coming into service. HMS Trafalgar is to be decommissioned in 2008, followed by HMS Turbulent in 2011.

On March 26, 1997, an order was placed with GEC-Marconi Limited (now BAE Systems Submarines) for the first three boats: Astute, Ambush, and Artful. These names were last given to Amphion-class submarines that entered service towards the end of World War II.

The Astute class was expected to be built roughly one-fifth more quickly than earlier boats, with lower running costs and a much smaller ship’s company. In the event however the programme has slipped by 4 years and has a predicted cost overrun of £1 billion and required a U.S. engineering management team from the Electric Boat Corporation to be brought in to resolve programme problems [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2930237.stm.

Astute-class boats will be powered by a Rolls-Royce PWR2 reactor and fitted with a pump-jet propulsor. The PWR2 reactor was developed for Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines. As a result Astute-class boats are about 30 per cent larger than previous British attack submarines, which were powered by smaller reactors. It will be the first Royal Navy submarine class to have a bunk for each member of the ship's company, ending the practice of 'hot bunking', whereby two sailors on opposite watches shared the same bunk.

Like all Royal Navy submarines, the fin of the Astute-class boats will be reinforced to allow surfacing through ice caps. They can fire Tomahawk cruise missiles from their launch tubes, including the new "tactical Tomahawk" currently under development.

Ships

General characteristics

Astute class submarines | Submarine classes | Royal Navy submarines | United Kingdom defence procurement

Astute-Klasse | アスチュート級原子力潜水艦 | Razred podmornic astute

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Astute class submarine".

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