The Ministry of Defence has restated that all eight of the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates are scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2035, confirming timelines previously outlined as the programme progresses through its construction phase on the Clyde.
In a written parliamentary answer to Ben Obese-Jecty MP on 29 April 2025, Minister of State for Defence Maria Eagle stated: “All eight Type 26 ships are scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2035.”
This reconfirms details shared earlier this year, when the MoD emphasised its close collaboration with BAE Systems to keep the programme on track. The Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme is intended to replace the ageing fleet of Type 23 frigates, particularly those focused on anti-submarine warfare.
Five of the eight planned frigates are currently in build at BAE Systems’ shipyards at Govan and Scotstoun in Glasgow. HMS Glasgow and HMS Cardiff are both in advanced stages of assembly, with the latter now structurally complete and undergoing outfitting. Steel has also been cut for HMS Sheffield, and block assembly is underway for HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham.
Designed with a particular focus on anti-submarine warfare, but also capable of general-purpose operations, the Type 26 frigates will be fitted with cutting-edge sonar, vertical launch missile systems, and embarked helicopters. They will play a central role in carrier strike group operations and NATO deployments through the 2030s and beyond.
While the programme has faced some delays in the past, the Ministry has consistently stated that the construction and capability targets remain achievable within the current timelines, with HMS Glasgow expected to reach Initial Operating Capability in 2028.
This reconfirmation ensures that, barring future disruptions, the full fleet of Type 26 frigates should be in service by the middle of the next decade.
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Holy crap CR. Have you gone to the dark side or are we all in danger of being hacked?
a nd during th time the Chinese will commission five ships.
I’ll be there first to say it but I won’t be alone. This is far too slow.
I agree that builds have to be paced to maintain industry but we need the hulls in the water now. The type 23 were never meant to go on this long and are behind the times against modern vessels.
The world’s a different place since these were ordered so if one or more goes to the norgies that money has to be translated into more fir the RN
Totally agree. We built battleships faster than a T26 frigate.
WWII capital ships were vastly less complicated machines.
Really? maybe you can tell us what computers they had to draw them.
How can you justify a frigate taking 11 years to be build? Japan builds them in 2.
Interestingly I was shocked to hear Rory Stewart say the other day on the Jon Stewart podcast (recommended) that when he was on the Defence Committee a decade back they were actually actively discussing 1) whether we needed a sovereign defence industry as it would simply be cheaper to buy American and 2) whether we should effectively have a marine defence force in support of the US Navy rather than an actual blue water navy. He said at no time were there discussions by anyone as to whether the US could become an unreliable ally. Clearly a lot of where we find ourselves today is the result of that sort of thinking at that time. Also just how naive and lacking in vision our decision makers can be more generally.
Yes when you are building them in those glorified sheds and can effectively build the parts anywhere in the country and slot them all together I am surprised if it took longer than 6 weeks. The most important thing is not to stretch out the work but to get plenty of new hulls in the water quickly and keep doing so for decades. Should also make them easy to upgrade. Same goes for other kit – we need a production line.
A false comparison
Uou’re not alone. Way, way too slow.
So we’re sticking to these dates, even if Bae are successful in winning an order from Norway? I understood Norway would want an early delivery of at least 1 frigate, which inevitably means we lose one of the current production run.
The dates given are the current plans. If circumstances change, so will the plans.
The fitting-out process is way too slow.
The key issue is the other side of the equation.. how long can the T23s last. As of now every T23 that has hit 6-7 years post lifex has ended up decommissioned. If this continues there will be no T23s left by 2031 and the RN will be down to about 4 in 28/29.
More worryingly at least one of them came out of LIFEX in a worse active state than it went into it when bodged leaky prop shaft repairs meant two further years of trial and error corrective ‘surgery’ on the cheap got very expensive indeed especially in being out of commission.
3 more years for first T26!!When did they cut 1st steel?2020?Way too slow…..£6/7 bn left in the foreign aid pot after last Treasury raid so best be spending that on speeding up these builds.Reactivate mothballed shipyards?Ask DAMEN or NAVAL GROUP to help?Maybe they could build the hulls/infrastructure and BAE can fit all the spy and bangy stuff?Joking apart,sad state of affairs for RN.
First steel cut on Glasgow was in 2017
Navantia have been bought in to help with the H & W builds, they will get some efficiency lessons from them one would hope.
This is brilliant news, to have all 8 cutting edge, class leading, state of the art ships in the water sometime over the next ten years, is a fantastic achievement.
BZ to all those involved over the past couple of decades (enjoy your retirement most of you) on a job well done.
As a bonus, the World now has a glut of cutting edge Razors too thanks to the forethought of previous governments.
“Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake, we must not interrupt him too soon.”
“ Gillette the best a man can get” as supported by RN sunset management.
It’s a close shave, that’s for sure.
Fingers crossed it’s a close shave and does not turn out to be a cut to far…
The UK’s capital city named ships, apart from England, are in the first batch. Why is London last?
HMS Edinburgh?
Politics?
The QE class aircraft carriers didnt take this long to build . Its laughable the length of time needed to build one ship , at least 2 of these shoud have been comissioned by now with the builds on the others advanced .
Tendering for them first started in the late 90’s, some 25 years ago.
“Time and Tide waits for no man”.
Apologies for this naïve question, but how many Type 26 ships should we have considering we have two carriers, and taking into consideration both NATO and non-NATO commitments?