Pelican wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 1:08 pm The Royal Navy’s Astute class submarines: Part 1 – development and delivery
In the first of a series of articles focussing on the Astute class SSNs, we look at the programme’s history and how decisions made decades ago continue to impact today’s fleet.
Background
In the late 1960s the RN had decided that it would invest heavily in nuclear attack submarines with a force goal of 20 boats, seen as the new capital ships of the day and the most effective weapons to counter Soviet maritime threat. Propelled by a regular drumbeat of construction and development, by the early 1980s it had built the Dreadnought, Valiant, Churchill and Swiftsure classes. These were followed by the 7 Trafalgar class boats, arguably one of the best Cold War SSN designs, delivered to the fleet through the 1980s on time and with an average construction time of about 50 months.
In the late 1970s planners began to consider what would replace the Swiftsure class and began concept development for ‘SSN0Z’. In 1980, the project was suspended as the design teams needed to focus on the Vanguard class SSBNs but in 1984 work resumed on what was now called the follow-on SSN (FOSSN). By 1989 approval had been given for detailed design work to start on the new class which were now referred to as ‘SSN20’ and would have had names starting with ‘W’ (following the ‘V’ used by the Vanguard class). The W class were intended as a high-end boat that would far outclass the Soviet navy’s best (in a similar vein to the US Navy’s Seawolf class) and cost constraints were not a major factor. The end of the Cold War and the 1990 “Options for Change” defence review brought the SSN20 programme to a sudden halt as politicians scrambled to cut defence spending to reap the so-called “peace dividend”. This was the first of a series of decisions that combined to leave a problematic legacy for the RN submarine service.
Continues at - https://www.navylookout.com/the-royal-n ... -delivery/
The Royal Navy’s Astute class submarines: Part 2 – platform design
In the second of a series of articles focussing on the Astute class SSNs, we look at the overall design of the boat, its propulsion and accommodation arrangements.
See - https://www.navylookout.com/the-royal-n ... rm-design/
Australian Navy undertaking the Marine Engineer Submarine Officers Training Pipeline (Astute Class stream) at HMS Sultan.