The Royal Navy’s existing shipbuilding programme amounts to 280,000 tonnes of new steel, rising to around 450,000 tonnes when planned programmes are included, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord, has said, according to the Royal Navy.
Speaking on board HMS Prince of Wales at the International Sea Power Conference in Oslo, Jenkins said: “We are embarking on the most extensive recapitalisation of the Royal Navy since the Second World War.”
He listed 13 frigates in build, including the Type 26s that Norway will also operate, followed by six Common Combat Vessels designed to command uncrewed systems, four Dreadnought submarines, the completion of the Astute class, and up to a dozen attack submarines under AUKUS, along with four new amphibious ships and four Fleet Solid Support ships.
Jenkins acknowledged current problems, saying: “Yes, we have challenges in the here and now.
“We all know what those are.
“But the Royal Navy remains a world leader, and we are relentlessly focussed on improving availability and getting more of our ships to sea.”
He said the Defence Secretary had set the task of being ready to fight within 1,000 days, and that “everything the Royal Navy now does is focussed on the end of the decade”. He also said: “I do not believe the Royal Navy can build the Hybrid Navy at the speed we need it by doing things the way we have always done.”
The 13 frigates are the eight Type 26s being built by BAE Systems on the Clyde and five Type 31s being built by Babcock at Rosyth.
HMS Cardiff, the second Type 26, was floated up at Scotstoun in April, and lead ship HMS Glasgow is expected to reach Initial Operating Capability in 2028. Jenkins said more than 80 industry partners and over 700 delegates were on board for the conference and the Atlantic Future Forum, the largest gathering of business leaders ever convened on a British carrier.
Nice, though I remember the Labour government talking of the “biggest shipbuilding program in a generation” and meanwhile our 35 Escorts became 23 by the time they were ejected.
So I look at the small print with these sort of statements.
4 FSS? What’s the 4th, FSS are 3?
When it’s all under contract and ordered, then good o.
The fourth could be a slip of the tongue and an early indication of a foreign navy buying one. However I is suspect it’s a typo.
Hard to argue this is not the biggest ship building program in a generation because it very much is, 450,000 (t) is massive even compared to historic British totals. That’s the same tonnage that the Washington naval treaty gave us for battleships total and such a massive program combined with the breath taking speed of the unmanned program is the only way to combat the massive decline of the past decade.
Things are shit right now but look set to be pretty decent in the early 2030’s.
DM,
Excellent question, others clocked that item. Possible explanations: simple mis-statement, rebuild/refit of Ft. Victoria, second order? Last two, intriguing options. 🤔
This can’t be true, total lies, no way that the Royal navy is building more warships tonnage than the entire French navy.
As we all know France is amazing and great at everything and its politicians are honest, hard working and competent where as all politicians in the Uk lie and the country has gone to the dogs 😂🤣😂
Sorry just thought I would preempt all the usual comments 😀
I don’t think most on this site are that enamored of the Froggies, Jim. (Most of you are British, after all… :)) I think there’s a lot of frustration that FDI is going out the door at a pretty good clip, with the Greeks on track to get their third early next year, while Venturer, Active, Glasgow, and Cardiff seem to be stuck in neutral.
From an American who’s frustrated that everything on this side of the pond is on a perpetual 2-year delay, I feel their pain, when I see that there are now three FDIs at sea, with two more in sea trials. France is on track to push out the last of their new SSNs, while UK and US yards ‘feel’ like they’re screwing up.
It’s just the frustration talking.