check out this slimy sub!

Excerpt from TheDrive.com.

Recent images of a Royal Navy Vanguard class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) taken by Sheila Weir — captured after the sub allegedly completed a six-month-long deterrent patrol — underscore the immense beating these leviathans of the deep can take while on missions for long stretches of time. The missile boat looks like a sea monster that has emerged from a long slumber at the bottom of the ocean.

The photos in question were taken as the Vanguard class submarine returned to HM Naval Base Clyde, which is also known as Faslane, on the west coast of Scotland, earlier today. Which specific submarine within the Vanguard class this was — there are four in total — and where it ventured to during its six months at sea remain unknown. Secrecy surrounding the movements of these SSBNs is standard practice for the Royal Navy. One British SSBN always remains on patrol from HM Naval Base Clyde at any given time to ensure the country’s second strike nuclear deterrence remains credible. Since 1998, the Royal Navy’s SSBNs have provided the U.K.’s sole nuclear weapons capability. 

What is immediately clear from the imagery is just how rough the sub looks. The surface of its hull is covered in a brownish-green hue, a very severe example of “marine [or bio] fouling” — the buildup of various marine organisms on vessels’ surfaces. While anti-fouling paints can be applied to help prevent this, a technique the Royal Navy and U.K. Ministry of Defense continue to explore, the problem cannot be stopped entirely, as the pictures highlight.  

It should also be noted that many of the hull’s anechoic tiles are missing in the pictures, which is typical after the completion of a long deployment. Anechoic tiles are designed to absorb the sound waves of active sonar, as well as minimize the sounds emitted from the sub to reduce the chances of it being detected via passive sonar. The images clearly show areas of rust having formed beneath the missing tiles.