HMS Anson (S123): The Newest Hunter-Killer, First to Refit in Australia

Built at Barrow

HMS Anson was built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness, launched on 20 April 2021 and commissioned on 31 August 2022, the fifth Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine and the eighth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name, honouring Admiral George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, the celebrated eighteenth-century circumnavigator and naval reformer.

A Formidable Package of Sensors and Weapons

Anson carries six 21-inch torpedo tubes with capacity for up to 38 weapons, including Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles with a range of a thousand miles and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes, alongside Thales Sonar 2076 and two CM010 optronic masts in place of a traditional periscope.

Her nuclear reactor needs no refuelling across a 25-year service life, and she can purify her own water and air, giving her extended underwater endurance limited more by her crew's supplies than by the boat herself, with provisions for 98 officers and ratings and food for three months at sea.

Sea Trials and a Global Deployment

Anson completed her sea trials on 21 May 2024, and by February 2025 was docking in Gibraltar to load weapons ahead of further operations.

In early 2026 she deployed east of Suez to Australia, arriving at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia that February for the first maintenance period ever carried out on a UK nuclear submarine on Australian soil, a milestone ahead of the Submarine Rotational Force-West due to begin operating from the same base in 2027, before being positioned in the Arabian Sea in March 2026 during a period of regional tension.

She returned to Gibraltar that May en route back to UK home waters, a particularly global itinerary for one of the Navy's newest and most capable attack submarines.