Third Astute submarine Artful to join Royal Navy fleet

Artful, Britain's latest nuclear-powered submarine, has arrived at its new home on the Clyde

The third Astute Class submarine built at a Cumbrian shipyard has officially joined the Royal Navy fleet.

HMS Artful, a 97m-long (318ft), 7,400-tonne, nuclear-powered vessel, is one of seven being built by BAE Systems.

A commissioning ceremony took place at Faslane naval base on the Clyde in Scotland where the submarine became Her Majesty's Ship.

The vessel, built in Barrow, moved to the naval base in 2015 to complete its sea trials.

The submarine completed its maiden dive in 2014

The first two submarines in the Astute class, HMS Astute and HMS Ambush, have already completed deployments in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Four others - Audacious, Anson, Agamemnon and the yet to be named seventh - are in various stages of construction.

They are capable of circumnavigating the world without the need to resurface.