UK Submarine shipbuilders Symons

Defence procurement minister Baroness Symons talks to shipbuilders at Devonshire Dock Hall, part of BAE Systems' giant marine site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria after the ceremony of Laying the Keel of Britain's newest submarine HMS Astute (in back ground). * It will be the first of the three Astute class of submarines to be built, each of which costs 745million in a deal between the Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems. HMS Astute is set to be completed in 2004 and will enter service 18 months after that, while the last of the three should be ready by 2008. The Baroness pulled a lever that lowered a giant Union Flag to reveal the reactor compartment of the submarine. (Photo by Tim Ockenden - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)