Gosport Tank & Silent Submarines
Posted: 4th January 2026
Stretching 885ft in length and containing enough water to fill seven
Olympic-sized swimming pools, a vast water tank at a mysterious research
centre is helping to give the Royal Navy a fighting edge over Russia. The
Telegraph has been granted rare and exclusive access to the facility in
Hampshire after it opened its doors to the press for the first time in more
than 20 years. Operated by QinetiQ, the defence firm, at its site in
Haslar, Gosport, the hub has been behind some of the biggest breakthroughs
in naval hull and propeller designs in the past 80 years. One senior naval
source told The Telegraph: “All the grown-up maritime nations around the
world make damn sure the signatures of their
assets are so quiet
it’s unlikely anyone would detect it… we are incredibly good at this.
“We have only achieved that position because of our fantastic scientists,
who are forever researching how to make our signatures impossible to
detect. “However, some of our adversaries are becoming more competent at
this, having previously been sitting ducks.”
Telegraph 1st Jan 2026