HMS Astute (P447)
HMS Astute was an. Her keel was laid down by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in 1944 and commissioned in 1945.
In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Astute was scrapped on 1 October 1970 at Dunston on Tyne.
Design
Like all s, Astute had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of, a beam of, and a draught of. The submarine was powered by two Admiralty ML eight-cylinder diesel engines generating a power of each. She also contained four electric motors each producing that drove two shafts. She could carry a maximum of of diesel, although she usually carried between.The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of. When submerged, she could operate at for or at for. When surfaced, she was able to travel at or at. She was fitted with ten torpedo tubes, one QF 4 inch naval gun Mk XXIII, one Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, and a .303 British Vickers machine gun. Her torpedo tubes were fitted to the bow and stern, and she could carry twenty torpedoes. Her complement was sixty-one crew members.
Astute was laid down at Vickers-Armstrongs Barrow-in-Furness shipyard on 4 April 1944, was launched on 30 January 1945 and completed on 30 June 1945.
Service history
Astute arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 11 April 1950 for a six-week training period with the Royal Canadian Navy ending on 1 July. Astute spent 21 months in 1955–56 based at Halifax as part of the Canadian submarine squadron, leaving Canada for the UK on 10 December 1956.As a response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Astute and sister ship, both part of the Halifax-based 6th Submarine Squadron, were deployed to the North-East of the Grand Banks to warn if Soviet submarines were to be sent across the Atlantic to Cuba.