These are the submarines that have launched a thousand ships, or rather, reams of news stories and hours of debate in parliament.  Because they don’t just come with an eight billion dollar price tag. Each. They also come with some serious political baggage.  They are the infamous nuclear-powered boats that we have signed on the dotted line to purchase through the AUKUS agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom.  Our foreign affairs and security correspondent recently stepped inside one, in order to find out: are these submarines really that special? Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.