HMS Astute (P447) was an . Her keel was laid down by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in 1944 and commissioned in 1945.[1]
In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[2] Astute was scrapped on 1 October 1970 at Dunston on Tyne.
Like all s, Astute had a displacement of 1360t when at the surface and 1590t while submerged. It had a total length of 293feet, a beam length of 22feet, and a draught length of 18feet. The submarine was powered by two Admiralty ML eight-cylinder diesel engines generating a power of 2150hp each. It also contained four electric motors each producing that drove two shafts.[3] It could carry a maximum of 219t of diesel fuel, although it usually carried between 159t165t.[3]
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 18.5kn and a submerged speed of 8kn.[4] When submerged, it could operate at 3kn for 90nmi or at 8kn for 16nmi. When surfaced, it was able to travel 15200nmi at 10kn or 10500nmi at 11kn.[3] Astute was fitted with ten 21adj=onNaNadj=on torpedo tubes, one QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XXIII, one Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, and a .303 British Vickers machine gun. Its torpedo tubes were fitted to the bow and stern, and it could carry twenty torpedoes. Its complement was sixty-one crew members.[3]
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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
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.