The Royal Navy is set to conduct a nuclear weapon test within the next few days, prompting officials to issue a warning to shipping as the nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard entered the Atlantic.

This marks the first missile test by the UK since a failed launch in 2016.

The £4 billion submarine, concluding a seven-year refit in Plymouth, is undertaking these tests as the final step before rejoining the UK’s nuclear deterrent fleet.

The 30-year-old vessel, described as a 491ft “colossus,” capable of patrolling undetected for months, can carry up to 16 Trident 2 D5 missiles, each armed with British-made warheads more than 20 times powerful than those used in World War II, the U.S. Sun reported.

The submarine is expected to launch a single unarmed missile from a position 90km off the US east coast, with the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency providing shipping warnings for the anticipated course, spanning 6,000 km before impact in the mid-Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa.

Written by B.C. Begley