New nuclear submarine is named

The greatest name in the history of the Royal Navy in the 20th Century will be resurrected in the 21st.

The third next-generation nuclear deterrence submarine will be named HMS Warspite, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced today, carrying on the tradition of breathing new life into first-generation hunter-killer names.

The boat will take her place in the Fleet in the 2030s, alongside HMS Dreadnought, Valiant and a fourth, as yet unnamed, submarine, each carrying Trident nuclear missiles on deterrence patrols for three months at a time.

She’ll be the eighth warship to bear the name, tracing her history back to the final years of Elizabeth I’s reign.