Tour navy's £1.2bn super sub
Sneaky peek ... inside the super sub (Click here - http://www.thesun.co.uk/popupWindow/0,,2007210378,00.html to enlarge and see it in greater detail). The new Royal Navy submarines are its largest and most powerful ever.
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
MAY 09, 2007
MEAN, menacing and devastating, this is the first of the Navy’s 21st Century super subs – and The Sun has been on an exclusive tour.
With a design more complex than the Space Shuttle, HMS Astute’s awesome abilities will take underwater warfare to a new level.
Incredibly, the £1.2billion, 7,675-ton beast could stay submerged for an astonishing 25 YEARS without running out of fuel thanks to power coming from a nuclear reactor.
While under water hi-tech gadgets purify sea water and manufacture oxygen and get rid of dangerous waste gasses.
The only performance limitation is the 98-man CREW because the stores will run out of food after three months — long enough for one-and-a-half trips around the world.
Sea shell ... sub being built in Cumbria
Then there is the Astute’s astonishingly quiet sonar signature, making the vessel almost undetectable under the waves.
As Britain’s first stealth sub, she gives off less noise than a baby dolphin thanks to her extraordinary amount of sound proofing — despite weighing as much as 975 double-decker buses.
Older subs’ noisier propellers have been replaced by a multi-bladed “propulsor”, and the rest of the vessel has been lined with special rubber tiles that mute all internal noise such as TVs and radios.
Meanwhile, Astute’s own top-secret sonar system — the subs’ jumbo-sized ears — is the best in the world.
If water conditions are right, operators could pick up the QE2 cruise ship leaving New York harbour while sitting thousands of miles away in the English Channel.
Astute has devastating firepower and is the biggest attack sub ever built for the Royal Navy.
Making waves ... how it will look in the water
She can carry 38 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of 1,240 miles each.
A vital weapon in the War On Terror, Astute can use them to blast land targets with pinpoint accuracy in North Africa from off the coast of Plymouth, in Devon.
She can also fire Spearfish torpedoes in ship-hunting missions.
Navy bosses allowed The Sun an exclusive sneak preview as workers put the finishing touches to HMS Astute in BAE Systems’ massive Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Painted jet black, she towers a total of 12 storeys from keel to the top of the conning tower.
With a length of 106 yards and width of 12 yards, she is as much as 30 per cent bigger than her predecessors — seven Trafalgar Class subs — under the seas today.
With her revolutionary technology, the Astute Class packs double the punch of the current hunter-killer fleet too. On top of the two traditional roles of land attack and ship-killing, HMS Astute will also be a massive reconnaissance asset.
There she can listen in to enemy transmissions and secretly land Special Forces teams.
In fact, her only downfall might be that she is TOO quiet.
Her position could possibly be given away because the normal sound of the ocean is louder, and her presence could be betrayed on a sharp-eyed enemy’s sonar screen as a black hole of nothingness.
Astute is the first sub ever to be built without a periscope.
Instead she has an optical mast topped by an ultra-sharp TV camera equipped with long range thermal and infra-red lenses beamed to the captain by fibre-optic cable.
Sea phew ... awesome power
The mast is raised above surface level for a three-second, 360-degree rotation to tell him everything he wants to know.
The Navy has asked for four Astute Class subs at £1.2billion each.
HMS Astute — the first — is launched next month for a year of sea trials before being handed over to the Navy’s Silent Service in August 2008. She will enter frontline service in January 2009.
HMS Ambush, HMS Artful and HMS Audacious will follow (and maybe a few more).
The Astute programme has come in for heavy criticism for being three years late and a whopping £750million over budget.
But Navy submarine boss Captain Mike Davis-Marks said last night: “The Astute class of submarines will quite simply be unbeatable worldwide for many years to come.
“Astute will have a capability that will keep us right at the top of the Premiership of the world’s navies — the Manchester United of submarine nations. With our proud maritime heritage, Britain deserves nothing less.”
*********************************
THE sonar suite has the processing power of 400 laptop computers.
Cutting-edge construction has been used on the Astute Class. On previous subs installing the engine would have taken two or three days. On this one it took less than six hours.
There is around 68 miles of cabling and pipework on board.
It has more than three times the displacement of the last ‘conventionally’ powered submarine (HMS Upholder) built for the Royal Navy.
She is able to carry more torpedoes and tube-launched missiles than any previous class of Royal Navy submarine – nuclear or conventional.
Bathroom fittings include five showers, five toilets, two urinals and eight hand basins for a crew of 98 – the commanding officer has his own hand basin.
The sub has individual bunks for the whole crew – and 11 extra bunks for “passengers”.
She can manufacture her own oxygen from sea water to replenish the onboard atmosphere.
Astute can also purify the onboard atmosphere by removing and disposing of waste carbon dioxide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
She can compact and store onboard all the food waste and garbage arising from an extended patrol so it can be thrown away on arrival back in harbour.
She is faster underwater than on the surface.
Sonar 2076 has the world’s largest number of hydrophones, which means it provides the Royal Navy with the “biggest ears” of any sonar system in service today.
A team of five chefs (one petty officer caterer, one leading chef and three other chefs) provide a 24-hour service to the hungry crew.
On a ten-week patrol the crew would be expected to chomp their way through, on average, 18,000 sausages and 4,200 Weetabix for breakfast.
Astute cost £1.2billion and weighs as much as 975 double-decker buses.
It can detect QE2 leaving New York harbour from the English Channel.
Astute displaces 7,675 tons of water, as much as 65 blue whales.
Astute is so quiet it makes less noise in the water than a baby dolphin.
It is the first submarine without a periscope. It uses a TV camera and fibre-optics.
Cruise missiles could pinpoint target in North Africa from Portsmouth.
thesun.co.uk
Sneaky peek ... inside the super sub (Click here - http://www.thesun.co.uk/popupWindow/0,,2007210378,00.html to enlarge and see it in greater detail). The new Royal Navy submarines are its largest and most powerful ever.
Defence Editor
MAY 09, 2007
MEAN, menacing and devastating, this is the first of the Navy’s 21st Century super subs – and The Sun has been on an exclusive tour.
With a design more complex than the Space Shuttle, HMS Astute’s awesome abilities will take underwater warfare to a new level.
Incredibly, the £1.2billion, 7,675-ton beast could stay submerged for an astonishing 25 YEARS without running out of fuel thanks to power coming from a nuclear reactor.
While under water hi-tech gadgets purify sea water and manufacture oxygen and get rid of dangerous waste gasses.
The only performance limitation is the 98-man CREW because the stores will run out of food after three months — long enough for one-and-a-half trips around the world.
Sea shell ... sub being built in Cumbria
Then there is the Astute’s astonishingly quiet sonar signature, making the vessel almost undetectable under the waves.
As Britain’s first stealth sub, she gives off less noise than a baby dolphin thanks to her extraordinary amount of sound proofing — despite weighing as much as 975 double-decker buses.
Older subs’ noisier propellers have been replaced by a multi-bladed “propulsor”, and the rest of the vessel has been lined with special rubber tiles that mute all internal noise such as TVs and radios.
Meanwhile, Astute’s own top-secret sonar system — the subs’ jumbo-sized ears — is the best in the world.
If water conditions are right, operators could pick up the QE2 cruise ship leaving New York harbour while sitting thousands of miles away in the English Channel.
Astute has devastating firepower and is the biggest attack sub ever built for the Royal Navy.
Making waves ... how it will look in the water
She can carry 38 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of 1,240 miles each.
A vital weapon in the War On Terror, Astute can use them to blast land targets with pinpoint accuracy in North Africa from off the coast of Plymouth, in Devon.
She can also fire Spearfish torpedoes in ship-hunting missions.
Navy bosses allowed The Sun an exclusive sneak preview as workers put the finishing touches to HMS Astute in BAE Systems’ massive Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Painted jet black, she towers a total of 12 storeys from keel to the top of the conning tower.
With a length of 106 yards and width of 12 yards, she is as much as 30 per cent bigger than her predecessors — seven Trafalgar Class subs — under the seas today.
With her revolutionary technology, the Astute Class packs double the punch of the current hunter-killer fleet too. On top of the two traditional roles of land attack and ship-killing, HMS Astute will also be a massive reconnaissance asset.
There she can listen in to enemy transmissions and secretly land Special Forces teams.
In fact, her only downfall might be that she is TOO quiet.
Her position could possibly be given away because the normal sound of the ocean is louder, and her presence could be betrayed on a sharp-eyed enemy’s sonar screen as a black hole of nothingness.
Astute is the first sub ever to be built without a periscope.
Instead she has an optical mast topped by an ultra-sharp TV camera equipped with long range thermal and infra-red lenses beamed to the captain by fibre-optic cable.
Sea phew ... awesome power
The mast is raised above surface level for a three-second, 360-degree rotation to tell him everything he wants to know.
The Navy has asked for four Astute Class subs at £1.2billion each.
HMS Astute — the first — is launched next month for a year of sea trials before being handed over to the Navy’s Silent Service in August 2008. She will enter frontline service in January 2009.
HMS Ambush, HMS Artful and HMS Audacious will follow (and maybe a few more).
The Astute programme has come in for heavy criticism for being three years late and a whopping £750million over budget.
But Navy submarine boss Captain Mike Davis-Marks said last night: “The Astute class of submarines will quite simply be unbeatable worldwide for many years to come.
“Astute will have a capability that will keep us right at the top of the Premiership of the world’s navies — the Manchester United of submarine nations. With our proud maritime heritage, Britain deserves nothing less.”
*********************************
Astute Facts
THE sonar suite has the processing power of 400 laptop computers.
Cutting-edge construction has been used on the Astute Class. On previous subs installing the engine would have taken two or three days. On this one it took less than six hours.
There is around 68 miles of cabling and pipework on board.
It has more than three times the displacement of the last ‘conventionally’ powered submarine (HMS Upholder) built for the Royal Navy.
She is able to carry more torpedoes and tube-launched missiles than any previous class of Royal Navy submarine – nuclear or conventional.
Bathroom fittings include five showers, five toilets, two urinals and eight hand basins for a crew of 98 – the commanding officer has his own hand basin.
The sub has individual bunks for the whole crew – and 11 extra bunks for “passengers”.
She can manufacture her own oxygen from sea water to replenish the onboard atmosphere.
Astute can also purify the onboard atmosphere by removing and disposing of waste carbon dioxide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
She can compact and store onboard all the food waste and garbage arising from an extended patrol so it can be thrown away on arrival back in harbour.
She is faster underwater than on the surface.
Sonar 2076 has the world’s largest number of hydrophones, which means it provides the Royal Navy with the “biggest ears” of any sonar system in service today.
A team of five chefs (one petty officer caterer, one leading chef and three other chefs) provide a 24-hour service to the hungry crew.
On a ten-week patrol the crew would be expected to chomp their way through, on average, 18,000 sausages and 4,200 Weetabix for breakfast.
Astute cost £1.2billion and weighs as much as 975 double-decker buses.
It can detect QE2 leaving New York harbour from the English Channel.
Astute displaces 7,675 tons of water, as much as 65 blue whales.
Astute is so quiet it makes less noise in the water than a baby dolphin.
It is the first submarine without a periscope. It uses a TV camera and fibre-optics.
Cruise missiles could pinpoint target in North Africa from Portsmouth.
thesun.co.uk
