Two American fast-attack submarines, armed with cruise missiles and torpedoes, visited Guam earlier this month.

Russia is clearly committed to the Lada-class. But it is a submarine that does not—and will never—live up to the expectations.

There will be no quotes from William Shakespeare’s play Henry V used as the motto for the Royal Navy’s seventh and final Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine. The boat, which is now under ...