Intermarine and Leonardo unite for Italian Navy minehunter contract
Five modern minehunters will undertake sweeps of leading maritime areas of interest.
HMS Victorious has been undergoing maintenance and life-extension work. (Photo: Babcock International)
Babcock International will undertake a planned deep maintenance and life extension programme for UK Royal Navy’s HMS Victorious Vanguard-class nuclear submarine.
The deal, worth approximately £560 million (US$707 million), will allow the submarine to continue operational patrols into the 2030s. Work on the submarine has already started following a commitment by the UK Department of Defence to authorise early works from July 2023.
HMS Victorious has become the second Vanguard-class submarine to undergo a life extension package at Babcock’s Devonport facility.
Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Martin Connell said: “The overhaul of HMS Victorious will allow the boat to carry out deterrent patrols until the next generation of submarines, the Dreadnought-class, enter service.”
The Vanguard-class has been under the spotlight recently with a failed missile launch from HMS Vanguard in January and a fire onboard HMS Victorious in 2022.
The class’s replacement, Dreadnought, has been progressing with steel cut for the third of class, HMS Warspite, in February 2023 and the transport-first pressure hull unit for the first Dreadnought-class to Devonshire Dock Hall in Barrow in northern England for outfitting the previous December.
Dreadnought Class (Successor Programme)
Five modern minehunters will undertake sweeps of leading maritime areas of interest.
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