Our affiliated submarine, HMS ANSON, has been launched at BAESystems Barrow

In normal circumstances, the Company would have been invited to join the crowds to witness two important milestones in the life of our affiliated submarine, HMS ANSON:

  • Mrs Weale, wife of the former Rear Admiral Submarines, RAdm John Weale, formally named the submarine as the Lady Sponsor on 11 December 2020, when her Commanding Officer, Commander “Bing” Crosby took command;
  • the “launch” on 20 April 2021.

With lockdown restrictions, both events were in front of limited audiences, but we hope that visits will be permitted before the boat leaves Barrow in 2021.

HMS Anson under construction

This photograph shows the boat in December 2020, in Devonshire Dock Hall where she was built – some of us were lucky enough to see her in there in 2018.

And, although not as dramatic as an old-fashioned slide into the water down a slipway, this video, Launch of HMS Anson, shows the modern style of “launch” onto a shiplift ready for lowering into the water. It is still an impressive demonstration of heavy engineering.

IPM Commodore Barry Brooks RN