UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that the first of the UK Royal Navy’s new nuclear deterrent submarines is to be named Dreadnought.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) received approval for the name from Her Majesty the Queen.
The remaining three submarines will also be given names with ‘historical resonance’, the MoD said in a statement.
MoD said that Dreadnought will become the lead boat and class name for the new Successor submarines.
Fallon said: “Every day our ballistic missile submarines are used to deter the most extreme threats to Britain’s security.
“We cannot know what dangers we might face in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s, so we are building the new Dreadnought class.
“Along with increasing the defence budget to buy new ships, more planes, and armoured vehicles, this commitment shows we will never gamble with our security.”
According to a statement posted on MoD’s website, nine navy vessels had previously been named Dreadnought.
Construction on the Successor programme has already begun, which is expected to deliver the most advanced and quietest submarine ever conceived by the Royal Navy, and the first to be designed to accommodate both male and female submariners.
As part of the MoD’s £178bn equipment plan, the programme will be supported by a defence budget that will increase every year until the end of the decade.
Image: Composite computer generated image, showing what the Successor project submarine may look like once completed. Photo: © Crown copyright.
