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Britain Launches New Giant Nuclear Submarine As US Firms Eye New Contracts
Barrow-In-Furness England (AFP) Jun 08, 2007 Britain's largest and most powerful attack submarine, the giant nuclear-powered HMS Astute, was given a beery royal launch Friday. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, launched the vessel not with the traditional magnum of champagne at the dockyard in Barrow, Lancashire, northwest England, but with a bottle of home-brew beer made by the ship's crew. About 10,000 people, including workers, crew, military chiefs, dignitaries and schoolchildren witnessed the launch by the wife of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne. "As an admiral's wife myself, I am delighted to be in Barrow-in-Furness today for the naming and launching of Astute," Camilla said. "I shall follow her progress with particular interest as she serves in the fleet. "I name this ship Astute. May God bless her and all who sail in her," she said, before pulling a lever to break the beer bottle against the submarine's hull.
earlier related report Until now, all of the Navy's current generation of Trident-class ballistic missile subs have been built at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn. The Northrop Grumman yard at Newport News in Virginia has been building nuclear-powered Virginia-class subs that are armed only with conventional munitions such as torpedoes and cruise missiles, the DailyPress.com said. The Navy currently has 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile subs each armed with 24 Trident nuclear missiles. Each missile, built by Lockheed Martin, has 280 times the explosive power of the atomic bomb that killed 80,000 people in Hiroshima in August 1945, the report said. "Such a move would open up an entirely new line of work for the local yard -- and could add several thousand workers to the shipyard's payroll over the long term," the report said. Northrop Grumman's initiative appears to be a preparatory move for the struggle to win the contract to build the Navy's next generation of strategic nuclear subs to replace the Ohios, even though they are not expected to need replacing for more than 20 years, until at least 2029, the report said. However, moves to design the successor class to the Ohio subs is planned to start in 2014 at the latest, but could even commence in 2009, the report said. "We are involved in these studies, which helps us prepare for the new design work, which we plan to participate in," Newport News shipyard spokeswoman Jennifer Dellapenta said in a written statement cited by DailyPress.com. "While it's a little early to speculate on the specifics of construction, submarine construction has always been a mainstay of the products delivered at Newport News," she said. "We are always interested in maintaining this skill base and delivering submarines to the Navy." The DailyPress.com noted that the Newport News yard had not constructed a nuclear ballistic missile submarines since 1966. From 1960 to 1966, it built 14 of them, the report said. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Northrop Grumman Naval Warfare in the 21st Century
Putin's State Of Mind
Washington DC (UPI) June 06, 2007The reasons behind Vladimir Putin's increasingly hostile attitude toward the Bush administration are becoming clearer. To understand them in their proper context, imagine the United States and its allies had lost the Cold War. NATO has collapsed. |
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