Artful, the third of the Royal Navy’s new Astute-class
attack submarines, has been busy conducting her final Contractor Sea
Trials ahead of her maiden deployment. The sophisticated submarine sailed
from Barrow-in-Furness in August last year for her new home at HM Naval
Base Clyde and since then has been proving her systems and equipment
at sea. |
These
demanding trials also enable her crew to familiarise themselves with
how the boat handles in a variety of testing situations as they prepare
for operations. The highlight of the recent trials was the firing of
six Training Variants of the Royal Navy’s heavyweight Spearfish
torpedo on the British Underwater Testing and Evaluation Centre near
the Isle of Skye.
These firings were the most complex of the trials conducted to date
as they required a large number of interconnected systems to function
together – from loading the torpedoes into their tubes through
to the sonar detecting the target and the command system preparing a
firing solution.
Artful’s Commanding Officer, Commander Stuart Armstrong, said,
“These trials are hugely important as they prove the submarine’s
primary capability as a weapon system and it gives us the confidence
that should we need to fire in anger everything has been tried and tested.”
Artful will continue Sea Trials until mid-March when she will
become a Commissioned Warship at a ceremony at HM Naval Base Clyde.
This will mark the end of her trials in UK waters and formally mark
her acceptance into the Royal Navy following the contractual handover
which took place in December.
Artful is the third (of seven) Astute class submarine to have
been built by BAE Systems. |
