BAE Systems sees HMS Audacious sail from Barrow
The Royal Navy’s fourth Astute Class submarine has sailed from the BAE Systems (BAES) shipyard in Barrow in-Furness, UK, for her new home at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde.
Once there, Audacious, built by BAES, will prepare for sea trials before entering operational service with the Royal Navy.
Astute Class submarines feature nuclear-powered technology and Sonar 2076. The 7,400-tonne boat can circumnavigate the globe submerged, limited only by food storage capacity as oxygen is manufactured en route from seawater. Astute Class replaces the Royal Navy’s current Trafalgar Class submarines.
HMS Audacious will join HMS Astute, HMS Ambush and HMS Artful, which are already in service with the Royal Navy. They will be followed by Astute Boats Anson, Agamemnon, and Agincourt, respectively by the end of 2026.
HMS Audacious facts from the infographic
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over 100km of cabling and pipe work is installed on board HMS Audacious
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fitted with Sonar 2076 providing the Royal Navy with the ‘biggest ears’ of any sonar system in service today
- HMS Audacious is 97m in length
- over 7,000t total displacement
- the Astute class is the first class of Royal Navy submarine not to be fitted with optical periscopes, instead they employ high specification video technology
- able to manufacture its own oxygen and fresh water from the ocean
- can circumnavigate the world without surfacing, her endurance is only limited by the amount of food that can be stored
- armed with tomahawk cruise missiles.
