Naval Warfare

BAE Systems holds naming ceremony for Anson

11th December 2020 - 16:10 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Sea trials are scheduled for 2022

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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