Shipbuilders at Devonshire Dock Hall, part of BAE Systems' giant marine site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria watch the ceremony of Laying the Keel of 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. Defence procurement minister Baroness Symons pulled a lever that lowered a giant Union Flag to reveal the reactor compartment of the submarine.