The British Royal Navy launched a splendid new submarine today, HMS Astute, (S. 119), lead ship of her class, which will be turned over to the Royal Navy in August. Astute, christened by HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, is being constructed at the BAE shipyards at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Astute is the lead ship of her (much delayed) class: 7,675 tons, constructed as a "stealth" boat, with six torpedo tubes; carrying both the Harpoon anti-ship missile, and the Tomahawk cruise missile; as well as Spearfish torpedoes. In the US Navy, Astute is comparable to the USS Virginia class attack submarines.
In contrast to the US Navy, which through no fault of its own, is too often stuck naming its own splendid ships for some sometimes less than appropriate politicians; the Royal Navy is allowed to have proper names for its ships. Astute's three sisters will be called Ambush, Artful and Audacious. Fitting names for attack submarines ! Congratulations to the Royal Navy.
4 comments:
wait 'til gordon brown gets his paws on the british budget. Astute my be an only child.
......and in a totally unrelated matter, which EJM I tolerates, this, may or may not happen today.
my acceptable gov't boondogle.
i will be glued to my computer monitor.
You are correct: Blair has been hard enough on the Royal Navy, and there is every reason to expect that Brown will be worse. Hopefully, matters improve: a trip to the polls might help here.
Our own naval budget needs a bunch more money.
As for our mutual favorite government boondoggle: hope it does happen today but I will be glad to see the back of the Shuttles, which I have always viewed as white elephants and hangar queens. I can't wait for Constellation/Orion/Ares. Manned space flight and the space program are something I'd always find money for.
geez, i can't even spell boondog(g)le correctly.
hangar queens?????
LL types as he get up off the floor after falling out of his chair laughing.
manned space flight with a mission.
go to the moon and this time stay there. i.e., build a base.
Absolutely right. And then Mars.
Post a Comment