State of the art Royal Navy nuclear submarine leaves Gibraltar, destination unknown

HMS Anson arrived in Gibraltar last week and photos emerged of her being armed with Tomahawk missiles. The American-built Tomahawk missile, also known as TLAM, allows Royal Navy submarines of the Astute class to strike at targets on land accurately at a range of around 1,000 miles. The missile is a highly accurate, GPS-enabled weapon that the US and allied militaries have used more than 2,000 times in combat, and flight-tested 500 times say the manufacturer.

Gibraltar is often used by Royal Navy and U.S. Navy submarines which usually provokes a protest from Spain. The Royal Navy base at Gibraltar is equipped to handle Royal Navy nuclear submarines of all sizes.

Anson´s sister ship, Astute, visited Gibraltar earlier this year. She was involved in an incident with a Russian spy vessel close to British waters in November. HMS Astute surfaced close to the Russian vessel as a warning.

Seven submarines of the Astute class will soon be serving in the Royal Navy. They are all based at Faslane in Scotland.