HMS Agamemnon

Now over to Peter with items from the mail.

A new Astute-class submarine has taken to open water for the first time, marking a key step towards operational deployment.

HMS Agamemnon, a 7,400-tonne, 97-metre long attack vessel, undertook her maiden journey, which began by transversing BAE Systems' shipyard dock system to reach the Walney Channel and on into the Irish Sea.

HMS Agamemnon will now undertake sea trials before joining fellow hunter-killer submarines HMS Astute, HMS Ambush, HMS Artful, HMS Audacious and HMS Anson in operational service with the Royal Navy.

Steve Timms, Managing Director of BAE Systems' submarines business, said the Astute-class submarines are equipped with the latest technologies to silently circumnavigate the globe without servicing, while fulfilling a range of tactical roles for the Royal Navy.

The departure of HMS Agamemnon, the sixth of the seven such submarines that we are building here in Barrow, demonstrates the growing momentum underpinning our submarines business and is a proud moment for everyone involved across the UK's submarine enterprise.

With BAE Systems having delivered the first six Astute-class submarines, progress on the final boat, Achilles, is at an advanced stage of construction.

Barrow, which King Charles III bestowed royal port status to last year, continues to play its part as a cornerstone of UK national security, with construction of all four of the Dreadnought-class submarines, which will replace the Royal Navy's Vanguard-class nuclear deterrent boats, already underway.

We should also mention, too, by the way, I'm going to mispronounce this.

Agamemnon? How do you pronounce it?

Agamemnon, yeah.

Yeah, right.

Okay, got it right.

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HMS Agamemnon, the sixth of seven astute-class attack submarines, has left BAE Systems' shipyard at Barrow and Furness to begin sea trials.

The nuclear-powered, conventionally armed vessel will undergo testing and training before joining the operational fleet, with roles including anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, and precision strike.

Its departure is also an industrial milestone.

The U.S. Navy has no reported transit of the Strait since January, but Australian, Canadian, and Japanese warships have previously gone through the waterway this year.

The British nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Agamemnon finally sailed away September 25th from the shipyard that built her and is now headed for her home base at Faslane in Scotland.

The sail away marked the end of an exceptionally long construction and commissioning period more than 13 years since the ship's ceremonial keel ceremony in July 2013 and more than four years beyond the original projected completion date.

Even though the submarine was formally commissioned in September 2025, she remained at the shipyard for a full year, undergoing tests and final fitting out.

Agamemnon is the sixth of seven Astute-class submarines built at BAE Systems' Barrel and Furnace shipyard on the Irish Sea, with only one more sub-Achilles remaining to be delivered.

Even though Agamemnon is still more than a year from becoming fully operational, the ship's departure also marked the end of a four-month period when no British attack submarine was at sea, all others being alongside, undergoing overhaul work.

Sea Machines Robotics said that an MH-47G Chinook helicopter from the U.S. Army Special Operation Aviation Regiment successfully conducted landing, takeoff, and resupply operations from an unmanned autonomous barge.

Under a contract award in early 2021, Sea Machine robots converted a barge using an SM-300 autonomous conversion kit installed on the barge.