The midship double bottoms for HMS Formidable have been transferred into the purpose built Venturer Building at Rosyth, a big step in the assembly of the Royal Navy’s third Type 31 frigate.
The move involved 56 axles of self propelled modular transporters carrying a total of 224 tyres, shifting more than 800 tonnes of steel with careful precision.
The operation, managed by Babcock International, is part of the phased build strategy that sees large prefabricated modules of the ship brought together under cover for integration.
HMS Formidable is the third of five Type 31 general purpose frigates being built for the Royal Navy under a £1.25 billion contract. Designed around the Arrowhead 140 platform, the class is intended to provide a versatile, exportable capability for tasks including maritime security, escort duties, and global forward presence.
Each 5,700 tonne ship will be fitted with the Thales TACTICOS combat management system, Sea Ceptor surface to air missiles, a 57mm main gun, and two 40mm Bofors guns. The frigates will also embark a Wildcat or Merlin helicopter and can deploy unmanned surface and underwater vehicles via a flexible mission bay.
The Type 31 programme is one of the UK’s most significant naval construction efforts, supporting thousands of jobs across the supply chain and forming part of the wider National Shipbuilding Strategy. HMS Venturer, the first of the class, is already in advanced assembly, with HMS Active following closely behind.
HMS Formidable’s move inside the Venturer Building is the beginning of her next build phase, as blocks are aligned, joined, and outfitted ahead of consolidation into the full hull. Once complete, the Type 31s will provide the Royal Navy with a globally deployable, cost effective frigate designed for endurance, adaptability, and sustained operations alongside allies.
I have a sinking feeling that the Denmark deal that both myself and many others were so excited about may have simply been a case of the FT jumping the gun. The deal was supposed to have been announced by the end of September.
My opinion would be to forget about the Mk41 modules until their MLU, and instead restore the amount of Sea Ceptors back to 24. Use the saved money to fund an extra pair of ships.
Not so sure. Denmark need to replace the iver Huitfeldts which were built in Estonia and Lithuania with fitting out done in Denmark. Given the T31 designs origins, building at Rosyth looks logical.
We can’t crew an extra pair of ships and we don’t even know if the Mk41 is funded
Royal Navy recruiting has been increasing in recent years. Assuming current trends, expecting to crew a couple of extra ships by the early 2030s (especially as the more crew-intensive Type 23s age out) is entirely possible.
We can’t even crew our 8 remaining frigates, we’ll be lucky to support 13
I thought the whole thing was that the first two won’t have the MK41 but will be fitted later?
Since the extra ships would not be commissioned until 2032 is completely irrelevant the ability of the RN to crew ships is now.. this constant we cannot crew them is circular argument that lacks logic…. Of course the RN could not Crew them at present they don’t have the ships so why the hell would they have the crew.. 7 years is a long time and allows for a strategic workforce plan to get the crews.l but unless you decide to build the warship you will never ever train the crew…….
They’ve already decided we’re not getting more frigates
Hmm, you might be right there.
But we have to decide whether T31 is a GP frigate with fully rounded capabilities or a patrol frigate aiming for cheapness and lots of hulls. At the moment we haven’t decided, and I’m worried we will have the worst of both worlds even though either is a perfectly good option.
Now, mine’s to bed because ESATs are tomorrow!
Good luck! I’ve just started my degree, so I can confirm that’s there’s nothing quite like university!
Yes. All the best for those, whether you are reading this before or after.
Agree but I don’t think we should forget about Mk 41. It will give T31 a real role. Being able to tNe out air defence assets or key infrastructure at over 1,000 km impressive indeed, in effect it will act as am arsenal ship for T26 and the CSG. Also still able to do the goal keeper role for QEC. Also agree however we should aim for as an interim for 24 CAAM plus 8 x NSM. Also right hulls not five. This would return us to the magic 24 escorts the RN clearly needs . 6 x T45 , 8 x T26, 8 x T31 plus the five B2 Rivers would work well for me. To push out a nearly 6,000 ton warship with only 12 x CAAM is truly pathetic IMHO.
Apologies for the above – sent from my phone on the train but you get the drift . Should say eight hulls not five and 24 CAAM not 12 . BPT ! Real shame there isn’t an option to edit after you post.
Can the mushroom farm tubes be reloaded at sea? The missile itself is only 99 kg plus soft launch container. The missiles are mounted high, away from any bow spray. I can’t see why a trolley system and winch couldn’t be devised to reload them.
They don’t have a crane, how are you getting the missiles to the mid deck
The problem with cancelling A to get B is that the cancellation always happens first whereas the replacement procurement often not at all. I think we should look to get the Mk41s asap; we have no need for more than five patrol frigates. The extra two frigates would come at the same time in the 2030s whether ordered now, next year or early the year after. We need to make the most of what we have in this decade. It’s getting pretty dangerous out there. I suspect that MOD will leave an order for a second batch of T31s to 27/28 anyway (when budgets ease), especially if Denmark or Sweden put an order in and there’s no pressure to keep Rosyth going full throttle.
Until the Mk41 are fitted they have no teeth…..
I don’t think anyone has confirmed in the public domain what the Type 31 are going to fitted with at the start…. NSM ? How many sea ceptor? 8 12 24?
It is a bit ridiculous a 5700 ton ship with no medium or long range offensive weapons fitted from the start what is meant to be a just target?
Venturers construction and fitting out images confirm 12 CAMM and the three guns.
More pictures please, George, and more info. One fish eye lens picture with nothing to scale it doesn’t say much. Please can we have an update on Active, state of build and some timescale as to when the ship will be out of the hall. And also for Formidable, when is she expected to be structurally complete etc.
There are people in the image.
Just popped over to Navy Lookout and they have story that suggests that Ireland may be thinking about procuring a patrol frigate with the T31 being a possible contender. This is being pushed instead of procuring a multi-role support and disaster relief ship…
Interesting indeed.
Cheers CR
Meh, NavyLookout are pretty late with that, it was in Irish media in August, and bounced around the harbour back at the start of the year, think Mickey and I have commented on it before here as well. DOD are opposed to the suggestion, and the NDP and Budget didn’t mention anything on the NS with other Capital projects getting flagged so not very optimistic on the suggestion.
BTW the rumour floating around was that the NS was actually pushing for the 140 MNP not an Arrowhead, but the amount of rumours bouncing around are massive.
Ah, OK thanks for the clarification…
Would have been nice to see another possible customer for Babcock though.
Cheers CR
Not saying impossible, just highly doubtful with no official sign from Government Buildings that they are willing to fund the step up to a frigate. But as commented elsewhere, this is on foot of the Irish delegation attending DSEI, it could be just PR briefing from Babcock (wouldn’t be the first time they’ve hinted they were talking about an Irish order), or it could be based on something they did get from the DF/DOD team that hasn’t broke yet.
So, yeah, not impossible, but not sure I’d put money on an order. Of course the other rumour going round the harbour was that it was the Polish yard that was trying to get interest, which annoyed Babcock.
Will there be a keel laying ceremony of sorts? I recall there was for the previous two, but I don’t recall how it works with assemblies and when the notional time is?
I would love to know the latest ISDs for the T31’s. Hopefully Venturer is still on track to enter service by the end of 2027, but there seems to be an awful lot of work still to be done before she can even start contractor sea trials – supposedly Summer 2026.
By next month the RN will be down to 7 T45s and 6 T23’s, perhaps 5 operationally useful, 4 in deep refit, and 4 in maintenance periods, trials, workup, etc. Iron Duke is then scheduled to decommission in 2027 – 4 years after re-entering service after her final major refit. But if she develops any expensive to repair defects before then, the norm with the T23’s has become a premature low-profile withdraw from service. We can but hope that the currently expected low of 12 escorts in 2027 is as bad as it gets.
I remember a story years back about Iron Duke being in such bad repair what with Corrosion that it was doubtful that she would undergo her refit at all. What a shambles we allowed matters to get to.