HMS Astute weighs 7,800 tonnes – that’s more than 1,000 double-decker buses – and has a crew of 98 officers and ratings
HMS Astute, Britain’s latest nuclear-powered attack submarine will never need refuelling.
There’s enough power in the Rolls-Royce PWR2 nuclear reactor for the sub to circle the world 40 times, which is more than enough for her envisaged 25-year service life.
She’s currently being built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria where they’ve been making submarines since 1886.
HMS Astute is 100m long and at 7,800 tonnes is the Royal Navy’s largest and most powerful attack sub. HMS Artful and Ambush are also in production. As their names suggest, they’re hunter-killer subs. Their mission is to secretly prowl the ocean depths and hunt and destroy enemy surface ships and submarines in times of war.
State of the art computer systems control six weapons tubes for British Spearfish torpedoes and mines, and American Tomahawk Cruise missiles.
Advanced engineering technology like this certainly doesn’t come cheap. Current estimates for building HMS Astute alone total £1.16 billion.
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