HMS Active rolled out of the build hall at Rosyth this week, and you could feel what it meant to the people there.
The second of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates moved slowly out of Babcock’s Venturer Building, the vast assembly hall where she has taken shape over the past few years. Once clear of the doors, the scale of her really hits you. Steel, angles, the lump of steel looks like a warship now.
Babcock staged the moment with the spectacle it deserved as kne of the most important milestones in recent UK shipbuilding history. Lighting, music, a tightly run programme. But what stood out was the workforce as hundreds gathered to watch. People were smiling, taking photos. It felt more like a party than a routine industrial evolution. They have earned it.
HMS Active has completed her main structural build. From here she moves into final outfitting before being floated out and prepared for sea trials. Systems will be integrated, tested, refined. The long process of turning a hull into a fighting ship continues.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard said: “These milestones show Scottish shipbuilding at its best. From starting construction for HMS Bulldog to rolling out the impressive HMS Active, this programme is delivering world-class warships for the Royal Navy and real economic benefits for communities across Scotland and the wider UK.”
He added: “The frigates will serve our nation for decades to come, and the skills and infrastructure we’re building here will secure the future of Scottish shipbuilding for generations.”
First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said: “HMS Active’s roll-out and HMS Bulldog’s steel cut represent real momentum in delivering the ships the Royal Navy needs. These versatile frigates will be workhorses of the fleet, capable of operating across a wide spectrum of maritime operations.”
He continued: “The Type 31 Inspiration class represents a major step forward in modernising our fleet. These are capable and adaptable ships, designed to give the Royal Navy the flexibility it needs in a fast-changing strategic environment.”
The roll-out happened on the same day steel was cut on HMS Bulldog, the fourth ship in the class. That tells its own story about pace, stay tuned.
The Type 31 programme supports around 1,250 jobs directly, with a similar number across the UK supply chain. More than 400 apprentices have come through partnerships with local colleges.
For Rosyth, this was a visible moment as the doors opened and the ship came out. More importantly, though, a workforce that has put years into this programme got to stand back and see what they have done.
Well done all!
Bloody good news,keep it up!
Impressive how quickly Babcock are getting these hulls out.
BAE should take note.
Making the steel hull of a warship is one thing….it is quite another to fit it out and get it fully tested and working.
That will be the test of how quickly they can bring the fleet up to numbers.. the sad thing is for a sustainable fleet we only really need BAE and Babcock to produce 1 warships a year between them.. but we have created an unstable rush due to a 10 year order gap..
Go Babcock!!
Great news. Hopefully we see Venturer going through Contractor trials shortly. T31s ARE GO…..
Well done Babcock, I do have a concern. At this rate the build hall will have no hulls to build in about four years, the investment into the build hall, skilled work force etc will be sitting doing not very much. Possibly it is time for either a batch II T31 or the stretched T31 concept for the T32.
Great picture and it looks like the work force had a well deserved moment to celebration their efforts. Well done to Babcock for putting on such a show, as this type of thing can really contribute to team spirit.
Now we need to order a few more. 13 frigates will not be enough especially if we are serious about Atlantic Bastion and want to maintain it in conditions where Low Earth Orbit is denied by ASAT weapons because in such conditions command and control or direction of the drones will be reduced to line of sight or use of airborne comms relays. In effect, the drones will enhance and push the operational horizon of the frigates’ far over the conventional horizon but it will still be the frigates’ that coordinate the battle in the event of a loss of satellite communications and observation.
I also note that the four ship is now in build, so my guess is that the supply chain are already building long lead items for ship five and some companies many already close to running down their production lines. We should remember that war with Russia and her allies will be an industrial war. Given we and the wider West have transferred our industrial capabilities to China and other developing counties we are not well placed to fight a major war. Rebuilding our industry means delivering orders and steady and predictable manner something our politicians need to take note of. Stopping at five T31 is daft, frankly. Order another three as an absolute minimum or face defeat at sea.
Sounds silly? We should remember the state that the USN is in with regards to it’s escort fleet and their production woes. I get the distinct impression that we have, for the moment at least, a head start at sorting ourselves out. It would be a real shame to throw it all away for the sake of short term fiscal expediency. I.e. stupidity.
So yeah, well done and congratulations to Babcock and their people, but take note politicians of all parties. We need a bigger navy. A MUCH bigger navy and Babcock deserve more orders.
Cheers CR
Past posts have pushed the “Rule of three” for frigates. Another 4 T31 would keep Babcock moving while a “T31+” design is always being promoted?
Crew numbers and cash is always the negative argument, but as you say, we need the fleet size.
If they don’t get them, this will show just how out of touch with reality the Govt is. Bad enough over recent decades we have allowed out capacity to stagnate and dispute through no consistency of orders but to go back to any concept of boom and bust yet again in the present dangerous environment would be beyond crass. And yet judging by present experience I have little faith in that not happening. Talk and action are very distant cousins on resent evidence and defence does not play to their overwhelming play to restore votes by the next election so I fear they will consider talk enough for the most part leaving any real investment to the next Govt to handle.
The thing that is important is that this now gives the UK options.. we have created a naval shipbuilding capability that in the 2030s deliver 2 escorts a year.. for context that’s more than the US can produce at present.. with a large 20,000+ plus’s shipyard in Belfast and moving forward the massive recapitalisation of our nuclear submarine industry we now have the industrial capacity to build essentially whatever navy we have the will to have..
And let’s be clear industrial capacity is actually the hardest nut to crack.. a few things have fallen in line for the Uk that has allowed it to regenerate its industrial capabilities:
1)the frigate crisis of not laying down a frigate for 18 years has even with a shrinking navy created a massive backlog that secured a decade of work for 2 yard ( a situation we have not had for a generation)
2) the new yards and designs from the frigate crisis creating an opportunity to sell ships.. which has been seized.. Turing the UK back into a major exporter of warships and bits of warships
3) the UK needing to build a new SSBNs and SSNs ( again due to massive backlogs and delays ) just as Australia decided to become a SSN power
4) the delay in building large warships and the scrapping of perfectly good large warships ( a bay and 2 Albions) at the same time as the frigate crisis created the need for a 3rd large warship yard..
This is essentially a unique situation created by the Cold War warship glut and then draw down, government incompetence over decades around the navy and finally Cameron’s austerity… essentially 35 years of neglect created the opportunity for renewal..
Now all that needs to happen is for the government to take the opportunity that it has been given… now 4 years ago this would not have happened and the government would have ignored it, but we get to the second driver.. opportunity: collapse of the international order and geostrategic chaos/great power flux..1) Russia created a European war and became our enemy,2) china made it clear if it did not get its wayward island in peace it would declare war and has build the largest navy on the planet as proof its serious.. 3) then a year ago the hegemonic power of the west essentially resigned its position and told its hegemony members they were essentially on their own and that trade with its traditional enemies may even be more important than the security the members of its hegemony
These to things are huge.. because we now have opportunity/the capability and the need to rebuild the navy we should never have squandered away on the security of US hegemony and the ideas behind the “ end of history and last man”.
All we need now is the political and social will.. so the political classes need to leave their late 20c and early 21c dogma behind and the public need to understand that pax America is dead and we are leaving a PAX for a time of war and conflict that will visit our shores if we let it.
This would allow us to order the ships our industry can provide and spend the next decade creating the manpower to operate those ships..
Now some will say we cannot and never will.. it’s a fantasy.. I say who is living in the fantasy.. because the true fantasy is saying a navy of 19 escorts and 7 SSNs will keep us safe and secure and act as a deterrent in a world tearing itself up through great power wars and geostrategic competition.. world in which you will be seen as either predator or pray.