Astute to embark on sea trials

HMS Astute, the first of class of a new generation of nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) for the UK's Royal Navy (RN), was taking on stores on 13 November for its maiden voyage.

Astute's initial voyage will be up the coast from prime contractor BAE Systems' submarine production facility at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde at Faslane in Scotland, where the boat will be based throughout its operational life.

On arrival at Faslane, Astute will embark on a two-phase series of sea trials. The first phase will concentrate on exploring and expanding the boat's handling while at sea; the second phase, which will see Astute voyaging further abroad, will prove out the SSN's warfighting capabilities, such as the boat's sensors and weapon systems. Astute will officially commission in the spring of next year.

"We're tasked with creating the operational procedures for this class of submarine," said Astute's commanding officer, Commander Andy Coles, talking at a press facility on 12 November. "We'll start with what we know and then try to slowly explore the boundaries, the operating capability, the way we move her.

"The first thing I'll do when I get out is make sure she will stop, make sure she will start," explained Cdr Coles. "It starts at the basics; make sure she turns in the right direction and just do turning trials until we know what the rudder's going to do at every single speed. And then we'll start doing manoeuvring trials. When we've proven the hull, we'll prove her under water in the same way. Then we'll move on to the combat systems. And then we'll be putting all that together and she'll be going over to America and firing the TLAM [Tomahawk Land Attack Missile] on their test range, firing the Spearfish [heavyweight torpedo] on a calibrated range, so we can actually put procedures into place.