Astute-class submarine
HMS Astute
- 6 torpedo tubes ∅ 53.3 cm ( Spearfish torpedoes )
- AGM -84 Harpoon
- BGM -109 Tomahawk
The Astute class is the latest generation of nuclear submarines of the Royal Navy. The hunt submarines (SSN ) are placed in service since 2010 and will replace the Trafalgar class from the 1980s. The plan is to purchase a total of seven submarines of this class.
History
Already in the 1980s the Royal Navy was planning to replace the foreseeable future, their submarines Swiftsure class. With the end of the Cold War, however, changed the priorities also in the Royal Navy. While the original design provided for a further hunting submarine to ward off Soviet submarines, they now needed a boat type that you should focus on supporting military operations around the globe. The experiment of Vickers Shipbuilding purpose to build a modified version of the Trafalgar class, proved to be too costly and inefficient. 1997 BAE Systems Naval therefore awarded the contract to build a completely new submarine type. We grabbed this back on the experience with the rocket carrying the Vanguard class SSBNs and the now modernized Trafalgar class.
In the course of reduction of hunting U- boat fleet from thirteen to seven submarines was decided in 2003 without replacement phase out the six boats of the Swiftsure class and now provide the Astute class as a substitute for the seven units of the Trafalgar class.
On 31 January 2001, exactly 100 years after the keel laying of the first British submarine, the Holland 1, the keel of HMS Astute was held in Barrow-in- Furness. The launch took place on 8 June 2007, the Astute was baptized by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Went into service on August 27, 2010.
Future of the project
The original plans of the Royal Navy provided for the purchase of seven submarines of the Astute class. 1997, however, only the first production run had been ordered with three submarines in May 2007, the contract for the fourth submarine was signed. The order for the fifth and sixth unit of the class was confirmed on 25 March 2010, whether the planned seventh submarine will also be built, long time was open. In the post on 19 October 2010 White Paper, the Government confirmed the purchase of seven units of the Astute class.
Construction
The submarines of the Astute class are powered by a Rolls- Royce PWR2 pressurized water reactor. This is a slightly modernized version of the reactor, the Vanguard class. The main advantage of this reactor is, in addition to a higher speed and a quieter drive that he. Due to the use of new fuel elements, the so -called " Core H", during the entire period of service of the submarines must not be refilled The refilling of the reactors was previously a tedious and costly affair. A disadvantage of the reactor is that it was actually built for twice as large ballistic submarines of the Vanguard class and therefore occupies a lot of space. This is one of the reasons why the submarines of the Astute class will be the largest ever built in Europe SSN.
The outer shell of the submarines is made of special hardened steel ( Q1N ) and encased in sound-absorbing rubber tiles. After a fire at the Tower of the Astute the tiles of this ship were coated with a special refractory coating layer. The following built boats of the class, the tiles are even fireproof.
The submarines will be equipped with the latest technology for maritime surveillance and reconnaissance missions for. The armament consists of a mix of torpedoes, anti -ship missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Contrary to the original plan, which provided for the use of Tomahawk Block III cruise missiles, the Royal Navy will equip the submarines now with the Tomahawk Block IV ( Tactical Tomahawk ). Overall, the submarines can carry 50 percent more weapons than their predecessors.
Costs
At the beginning of the development was planned to spend per submarine no more than one billion pounds (1.5 billion euros). However, in the course of development, it came several times to problems and delays that drove the costs up. According to official figures, the Royal Navy will pay for the first three submarines now a total of 3.5 billion pounds. For the three submarines from the second series is currently one is the budget of 2 billion pounds because the development costs were apportioned only to the first three submarines. 680 million pounds has been earmarked for the seventh submarine. This results in an average price of about £ 900 million per submarine, which is within the original budget.