Last updated at 14:26, Tuesday, 17 November 2009

THE different generations and their projects come and go, but like the town motto, semper sursum, Barrow shipyard marches ever onwards and upwards.

The first-of-class nuclear powered submarine Astute, which slipped out of the town on Sunday to begin her sea trials, was the 336th sub to leave via the Walney Channel after construction by the town’s engineers and craftsmen stretching back to 1886.

Of that total, 26 were built for foreign navies which makes Astute the 310th submarine built in the town for the Royal Navy. Nos 311 (Ambush), 312 (Artful) and 313 (Audacious) are in the shipyard’s voluminous sheds being worked on now, and it is hoped there will be at least three more of the class ordered taking the tally to 316 RN subs and 342 subs in total built by Barrow in the second half of the next decade.

The town’s first submarine order was for the pioneering sub Nordenfelt, which was completed in 1886. It was one of two subs designed and ordered by Swedish entrepreneur and arms dealer Torsten Nordenfelt.

Sold to the Turkish Navy, it did not do a lot of work but it did make a 10-mile operational trial run and was the first submarine in history to successfully fire a torpedo at a target from under the waves. It is a piece of history Turkey is proud to this day and which it aims to recognise at some celebrations there next year, according to the yard’s part time historian Tony Salter-Ellis. Some other key points in Barrow’s submarine history leading finally to Astute include:

• The yard building the first submarine for the Royal Navy, the American-designed Holland 1, in 1901. It was just 63ft long and weighed in at 120 tons compared with 7,400 tonnes for an Astute class.

• Taking what was good and bad about the American design, Vickers men then designed the first all British sub, the A class although it was not too successful

• Class after class of sub then followed and Barrow gained a name for innovation and reliability. The U class boats found fame in the Second World War with HMS Upholder a star performer, as did the S and T classes subs, all of which charged their batteries used for underwater running, with diesel engines.

• History was made again in 1959 with the order for Britain’s first nuclear submarine HMS Dreadnought. It was pay off time for Sir Leonard Redshaw’s strategy of hiring and concentrating 1,000 of the best technical brains at Barrow yard.

• The first British submarine to carry inter continental nuclear missiles, HMS Resolution was laid down at Barrow in February 1964 and commissioned in 1967.

• The massive 16,000 tonne displacement Trident submarine HMS Vanguard had its keel laid in 1986 by Margaret Thatcher who also opened the mammoth Devonshire Dock Hall taking submarine building indoors.

The Astute class was originally to be Batch Two of the Barrow built Trafalgar class hunter-killer subs, but orders were delayed so long by the last Conservative government that it evolved into a new class.

Three Astute class boats were ordered from GEC Marconi in March 1997.

Work began on Astute in October 1999 shortly before BAE bought the yard and when Barrow was also building surface ships, with the keel laying ceremony on January 31 2001 attended by the then Defence Procurement Minister Baroness Liz Symons.

After major problems including particularly with the computer aided design system adopted, and with skill shortages, the delayed contract and price was renegotiated with the government in 2003 when a new shipyard boss, Murray Easton, was appointed, to sort out the programme.

First published at 13:12, Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk