THE SILENT Service will get at least one more Astute-class submarine with an order placed for HMS Audacious.

Whitehall has paid defence giant BAE Systems £200m to start work on Audacious, which will take begin to take shape later this year in the firm’s huge ship hall at its Barrow-in-Furness yard.

The contract with BAE will cover initial construction work on Audacious until March next year. The MOD and BAE are in talks over the remainder of the contract – Astute alone has cost more than £1bn – which is due to be signed later next year.

“The Astutes form a key part of our future programme – they are immensely powerful submarines,” said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band.

“These boats will help protect Britain’s interests overseas for decades to come.”

BAE are adding the finishing touches to the first ship of the class, which will be rolled out of the hall for the first time next month at her launch ceremony.

HM Submarines Ambush and Artful are also rapidly taking shape in Barrow.

All four Astutes will be equipped with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles – they will carry more of each weapon than the Swiftsure or Trafalgar-class boats they replace – and be the stealthiest submarines the RN has sent to sea.

On a personal level, all 98 crew will have their own beds, bringing an end to a century of ‘hot bunking’.

As for Audacious, she takes her name from a 74-gun third-rate which served under Nelson, a Victorian ironclad which served on the China Station and, perhaps most famously, a Great War dreadnought which fell victim to a mine off Northern Ireland in October 1914.

The Admiralty tried to hush up the battleship’s loss – an impossible task as her sinking was witnessed by passengers of the RMS Olympic, sister of the Titanic.