It is as long as a football pitch, as wide as 4 double Decker buses and it weighs 7400tons. It is the Royal Navy's new super-sub, HMS Astute.
It is 4 years late, and a huge £900million over budget, bringing the total cost of HMS Astute to over £960million.
Over 10000 people watched, as the new super-sub, was rolled out of the workshop in Cumbria, including dockyard workers, school children, VIP's and nave personnel.
With a crew of 98, including 5 full time chefs, and the ability to stay underwater for over 3 months, HMS Astute is the most self sufficient submarine ever built.
Carrying 38 Tomahawk cruise missiles, each with a range of 1240 miles, and multiple Spearfish torpedoes, it is also the most powerful submarine ever built. The sub is powered by a nuclear reactor, meaning it does not have to be refuelled, within its 25year lifespan. But the most impressive aboard is the sonar system, which has the ability to be able to detect a ship leaving New York, while sitting in the English Channel.
This, the first of 4 super-subs to be built is the "largest and deadliest hunter-killer submarine ever built".
Bishop Perowne C of E College
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