It can go round the world without surfacing, hit targets 750 miles away with cruise missiles and can hear ships in New York while under the Channel: Meet Royal Navy's latest £1billion nuclear submarine

Pictured edging out of her dry dock at Barrow-in-Furness (left and bottom right), preparations began yesterday to get the Royal Navy's latest submarine water-ready ahead of its first trip in the sea. She has been ten years in the making but now the 318ft long, 7,400 tonne nuclear-powered HMS Audacious will take her first trip in water for the first time today during a floating out ceremony in Cumbria. When armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, she will be capable of striking targets up to 1,200km from the coast with pinpoint accuracy.