Hunter-killer submarine HMS Astute has returned to the fleet.
The Commanding Officer of HMS Astute said:
“It has been a remarkable achievement getting Astute back to sea after a significant period alongside. The ship’s company all performed incredibly over the past two years and we are now looking forward to operational tasking at sea.”
According to the Royal Navy:
“The rigorous training package contained a number of phases with the team put through their paces during fire fighting and damage control exercises as well as completing weapon certification of the UK’s anti-surface and anti-submarine weapon system.
The training culminated in a simulated war environment dealing with airborne, surface and subsurface threats simultaneously.
As well as working with UK assets HMS Astute also trained alongside Canadian Maritime Patrol Aircraft and conducted a training exercise with another NATO submarine.
Since returning home to HM Naval Base Clyde in June 2015 the submarine has been undergoing a period of planned maintenance.
has there been no thought of having a mixed fleet with nuclear and diesel electric subs…
Great news – well done guys
Yep good news, while the Astute class subs may be few in number, the threat of their presence is enough to give any potential adversary sleepless nights.
How can a relatively new submarine require two years of maintenance.
We were told that these boats would have a much higher level of availability.
I think as the first of her class, they took the opportunity to rectify a few issues and update her to the latest standard.