The first of the Royal Navy’s advanced Astute class submarines, HMS Astute herself, may be well over budget and well over time (as is the MoD’s modus operandi) but it is at last within a few months of arriving at her home port of Faslane, on the Clyde in Argyll.

Under Commander AL Coles OBE (Andy Coles) Astute is doing final testing at BAE Systems Submarine Solutions in Barrow in Furness in readiness for sailing to Faslane, now the UK’s submarine base.

Commander Coles assumed command of Astute a year ago, in October 2008. The ship’s company has been working with BAE for the last few years. Commander Coles says: ‘The first of a new class of nuclear-powered submarine is a very complicated business and I have a great team of Marine Engineering Ratings and Officers with lots of experience to help get things right.  They work very closely with the shipbuilders and, like their Weapon Engineering colleagues, they take part in all the testing of the engineering systems onboard’.

Unsurprisingly the training of all of the crew is rigorous and meticulous and focuses not onl on individuals but on training small teams responsible for specific aspects of the ship’s operations. As Commander Coles makes clear: ‘All this culminates in training for the entire submarine, assisted by the staff of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST).  The FOST team have been involved at every step of our training and they will run the final exercise that clears the crew for going to sea’.

Work at the moment is centred on a series of tests to prove the reactor and associated systems. After that, the crew move on to the ship to get her ready for sea. When she has been cleared for sea by FOST, she will go into sea trials, testing every aspect of her awesome capabilities, from propulsion to weapons, in a variety of scenarios. Part of these sea trials will involve working out of Faslane.

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