Maiden voyage of HMS Artful, Astute-Class Nuclear-powered Fleet Submarine
The U.K.’s latest attack submarine, HMS Artful, has commenced its maiden voyage from the shipyard’s facility for sea trials.
HMS Artful is the latest attack submarine of the United Kingdom and a part of Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine of the Royal Navy. It was ordered from GEC’s Marconi Marine (now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions) nearly ten and a half years ago. It has been rolled out of the construction hall at BAE Systems’ yard 15 months ago. The vessel was set to sail from Barrow for sea trials on Thursday. This trial would be happening into the open waters of the Irish Sea. After that, the vessel will be directed to the Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in Scotland to join the earlier Astute-class submarines.
Commander Scott Bower, the commanding officer shared that he is extremely proud and honored to be part of the crew of Artful. He complimented the capabilities of the vessel and regarded her as a next step in our country’s century-long history of operating submarines.
HMS Artful is a new addition to the series of Astute-class submarine, after HMS Astute and Ambush. The 7,400-tonne attack submarine measuring 97 meters is powered by nuclear reactors and are equipped with Tomahawk land attack missiles and Spearfish torpedoes.
Source: Naval Technology
