The fifth submarine in the seven-boat Astute
SSN class for the UK Royal Navy (RN) was officially named Anson in
an 11 December ceremony at the BAE
Systems Submarines facility in Barrow-in-Furness.
The
97m-long, 7,400t submarine is now scheduled to be launched ‘early next year,
ahead of leaving for sea trials in 2022’, BAE Systems noted in a statement.
The
company added that work is well under way in Barrow on Astute-class
boats six and seven (Agamemnon and Agincourt)
for the RN,
as well as the first two boats in the Dreadnought class of SSBNs.
BAE
Systems claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent work on both Astute
and Dreadnought from continuing in 2020. However, Shephard reported in March that the delivery schedule for Anson had
been affected by issues uncovered during the build of fourth-in-class Audacious.
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Astute Class (1-7) [UK]
Astute Class