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Royal Navy names third Astute-class sub

Valentine Watkins
The first-of-class HMS 'Astute' undergoing launch in 2007

The United Kingdom's Royal Navy has named its third Astute Class submarine 'Artful'.

The 97-metre x 11.3-metre x 10-metre sub was named with the time-honoured tradition of breaking a bottle on its bow – in this instance a bottle of beer from a local Cumbrian brewery, Hawkshead Brewery in Staveley.

The naming ceremony comes just two months after the Ministry of Defence announced that the first two of the seven Astute Class submarines, HMS 'Astute' and HMS 'Ambush', were nearing completion of their extensive sea trials and have been handed over to the Royal Navy to begin to prepare for operations.