HMS Astute (S119)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Astute.

Astute on the shiplift outside Devonshire Dock Hall after launch
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Astute
Ordered:	March 1997
Builder:	BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:	31 January 2001
Launched:	8 June 2007
Commissioned:	27 August 2010
Homeport:	HM Naval Base Clyde
Identification:	Pennant number: S119
Status:	Commissioned
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Astute-class submarine
Displacement:	7,000 tonnes, surfaced 7,400 tonnes, dived
Length:	97 m (323 ft)
Beam:	11.3 m (37 ft)
Draught:	10 m (33 ft)
Propulsion:	Rolls-Royce PWR2 reactor (with full submarine life core), MTU 600 kilowatt diesel generators
Speed:	29+ knots (54 km/h) submerged
Range:	Unlimited
Complement:	98 officers and enlisted, capacity of 109 (All male)
Sensors and processing systems:	Thales Sonar 2076 Atlas DESO 25 echosounder 2 x Thales CM010 optronic masts Raytheon Successor IFF
Armament:	6 x 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes with stowage for up to 38 weapons; Tomahawk Block IV land-attack cruise missiles Spearfish wire-guided heavyweight torpedoes

HMS Astute is a nuclear-powered submarine in the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. Astute is the second submarine of the Royal Navy to be named for the characteristic of shrewdness and discernment. The first was the World War II Amphion-class Astute. Builders BAE Systems describe her as "the largest and most able attack submarine that the Royal Navy has operated, with a performance to rival any in the world".

Operational history

Construction and launch

Astute was ordered from GEC's Marconi Marine (now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions) on 17 March 1997. She was laid down at BAE's submarine facility in Barrow-in-Furness on 31 January 2001, 100 years to the day after the keel was laid down for the Royal Navy's first submarine Holland 1. She was the first submarine built in the UK since HMS Vengeance in 1998.

Astute was launched on 8 June 2007 by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, however the launching of Astute was 43 months behind schedule. The launch attracted more than 10,000 spectators.

Astute left Barrow on 15 November 2009 and on 20 November 2009, arrived at her home port of HMNB Clyde at Faslane.

Sea trials and commission

On 16 February 2010 Astute left Faslane for sea trials and dived for the first time on 18 February 2010. HMS Astute was commissioned on 27 August 2010, when she was given her HMS prefix, in a ceremony watched over by her patron HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

Recent service

Starting late 2011 she will spend 5 months at the US Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center in the Bahamas and will be handed over to the Royal Navy for operational service in late 2012.

Design

Further information: Astute class submarine#Characteristics

Built as a successor to the Trafalgar class, Astute is 50% bigger than the T boats but has a smaller crew. The 7,400-tonne Astute's nuclear reactor will not need to be refuelled during the boat's 25 year service. Since the submarine can purify water and air, she will be able to circumnavigate the planet without resurfacing. The main limit is that the submarine will only be able to carry three months' supply of food for 98 crew.

Astute on the shiplift after launch.

Astute has stowage for 38 weapons and would typically carry both Spearfish heavy torpedoes and Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles, the latter costing £870,000 each. The Tomahawk missiles are capable of hitting a target to within a few meters within a range of 1,240 miles (over 2,000 km).

Notable incidences

Astute has twice hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in her short career. On 22 October 2010, she ran aground off the west coast of Scotland and her captain was subsequently relieved of his command. On 8 April 2011 a rating shot dead one officer in the control room and injured another whilst the Astute was docked in Southampton. Visiting dignitaries restrained the man and he was subsequently convicted of murder.

Running aground and collision with tug

Astute aground with the emergency tow vessel Anglian Prince

On 22 October 2010, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Astute had "run into difficulties" off the Isle of Skye while on trials after eye-witnesses reported the submarine had run aground a few miles from the Skye Bridge. There were no reports of injuries. The captain of the vessel elected to wait for tug assistance, rather than use the submarine's own power to clear the stern from the obstruction, to minimize the damage to the hull's anechoic tiles. A Royal Navy spokesperson said the vessel had been grounded on silt, and was re-floated at high tide. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency-chartered emergency tow vessel Anglian Prince was dispatched to the scene from Stornoway.

During the operation to tow Astute clear, there was a collision between the rescue tug and the submarine, which resulted in damage to her starboard foreplane. The submarine returned under its own power to Faslane, where the damage incurred in the grounding and afterwards was described as "minor".

On 27 October 2010, the Royal Navy announced that the captain of Astute, Commander Andy Coles, had been relieved of his command. It was subsequently decided that he would not face a court martial. In December 2010 it was announced that Commander Iain Breckenridge, who has previously commanded the submarine HMS Tireless, would take over command. On 11 December 2010, on her first day back at sea after the grounding incident, Astute had to return to port for repairs due to a minor problem with her steam plant.

2011 shooting incident

Astute at 38 berth in Southampton Docks on 8 April 2011 - the location of the shooting.

On 8 April 2011, one naval officer was killed and another injured in a shooting on board Astute while berthed at Southampton docks. Southampton City Council's leader, chief executive, and mayor were on board at the time. During a changeover of armed guards, Able Seaman Ryan Donovan opened fire with an SA80 assault rifle in the submarine's control room, hitting two officers, before being overpowered by Southampton Council's leader, Royston Smith, a former RAF flight engineer, and chief executive Alistair Neill.

According to Smith:

"We were in the control room when someone entered and there was an exchange of words. He [the gunman] stepped out with another man and two shots were fired and then he entered the control room again and began shooting again... He had a magazine with 30 rounds in it so I took the view that someone had to stop him. I pushed him against the wall and we wrestled, then I pushed him into another wall which resulted in him going to the ground and I managed to get the weapon from him and threw it aside under a table. I shouted for someone to help as I held him down and my chief executive was the first to come, and he did a remarkable job of restraining him."

—Royston Smith, BBC interview

The gunman was later arrested by Hampshire Constabulary officers. The dead officer was named as Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, Astute's weapons engineering officer. Donovan was charged with the murder of Molyneux and the attempted murder of Petty Officer Christopher Brown, Chief Petty Officer David McCoy, and Lieutenant Commander Christopher Hodge.

On 19 September 2011, at Winchester Crown Court, Donovan admitted the murder of Lieutenant Commander Molyneux and three counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve a minimum of 25 years.

External links

• HMS Astute Photo Gallery
• Naval-technology.com on the Astute class
• Astute-class submarine – Armedforces.co.uk