Nuclear submarine pulled free

A nuclear-powered submarine which ran aground on a shingle bank earlier today has been towed free tonight, the Royal Navy said.

HMS Astute was on sea trials when the rudder of the vessel is thought to have become stuck on a shingle bank on the west coast of Scotland at around 8am today.

The incident happened between the mainland and the Isle of Skye.

There were no reports of any injuries and the Ministry of Defence said it was not a "nuclear incident".

It is believed a crew transfer from the shore to the submarine was being carried out when the incident happened.

The vessel was towed free by a tug at around 6pm and will now be towed to deep water where a survey will be carried out on its rudder.

In June 2007 the mammoth nuclear-powered HMS Astute was named and launched by the Duchess of Cornwall.

A contract worth £3.5 billion was signed for the first three boats in the Astute class but there is no specific figure per submarine.

In August this year, HMS Astute was welcomed into the Royal Navy during a commissioning ceremony at Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde.

The submarine weighs 7,800 tonnes, equivalent to nearly 1,000 double-decker buses, and is almost 100 metres (328ft) long.

Its Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles are capable of delivering pinpoint strikes from 2,000km (1,240 miles) with conventional weapons.

The submarine's nuclear reactor means that it will not need refuelling once in its entire 25-year life and it makes its own air and water, enabling it to circumnavigate the globe without needing to surface.

Built by defence giant BAE Systems at Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, it is the first in a fleet of six which will replace the Trafalgar class submarine.

As the base port of all the Navy's submarines from 2016, Faslane will be home to the whole Astute class.

The accident happened almost exactly 50 years after the UK's first nuclear submarine was launched. HMS Dreadnought was launched on October 21 1960 by the Queen.