HMS Ambush, the second Astute-class nuclear submarine to be built for the Royal Navy, will be launched tomorrrow
A naming ceremony for the Royal Navy’s latest Astute-class nuclear submarine will be held in Barrow-in-Furness tomorrow before the £1.2 billion boat is moved out of its building hall and lowered into the water.
The entire operation is expected to take several hours to complete, and HMS Ambush will then spend at least a year alongside in the seaport to allow further fitting out work to be carried out before she takes part in seatrials.
When she is fully operational HMS Ambush, which displaces 7400 tonnes, will be able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing and will never need refuelling.
Navy chiefs will no doubt hope that her trials go rather better than those of her sister boat HMS Astute, which caused more than a little embarrassment when it ran aground off the Isle of Skye in October 2010. Repairs are reported to have cost the Ministry of Defence between £7m-£8m.
