Behind the hulking structure that defines this incredibly complex feat of engineering lies an equally complicated design process that helped turn a concept into reality.

Armed with the customer’s requirements and with some of the country’s most distinguished engineers at its disposal, prime contractor BAE Systems Submarine Solutions set about designing the next generation of SSN submarines – the Astute class.

It needed to exceed the capabilities of the Swiftsure and Trafalgar classes it was to supersede, yet better their stealth, likewise it had to be more powerful yet emit low noise signature – in essence it needed to be the biggest, it needed to be the best.

Drawing on years of past experience and utilising the knowledge and skills that has enabled the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard to design and construct every first of class submarine produced for the Royal Navy, it was to be one of the world’s greatest engineering challenges.

For the majority, the inner workings of a submarine remains top secret, shrouded in mystery to maintain an edge on potential enemies and keep it at the forefront of marine warfare technology.

Even among the privileged few that have taken the steep steps that lead into Astute’s pressure hull and walked its maze of compartments, there are many who find the sheer scale of the project incomprehensible.

Innovation became a recurring theme throughout the design and build, and firsts were not uncommon, one significant example being the use of computer-aided design to meet more than 10,000 individual design and engineering requirements. Prototypes were not an option, however, due to budget and time constraints, so virtual prototyping was relied upon to prove the design and systems integration.

The result is one of the world’s most versatile submarines, designed in such a way to perform multiple deployments, from solo patrols to joint maritime operations, hundreds of metres below the surface of the planet’s most hostile environment.

No other hunter killer can match its weapons capability; no other attack submarine is as technologically advanced.