The House of Commons Library has published a comprehensive research briefing titled “UK Defence in 2025: Warships and the Surface Fleet“, providing a detailed overview of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels, as well as future plans for the UK’s surface fleet, according to the latest publication from the Library.
The briefing is part of a series examining UK armed forces capabilities, focusing on the composition and role of the Royal Navy and RFA’s surface fleet, including frigates, destroyers, and support ships.
It highlights the current number of vessels, procurement histories where relevant, and planned acquisitions, offering valuable insights ahead of the upcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR).
The report emphasises that while an inventory of ships does not entirely reflect the UK’s military capabilities, the type and number of vessels do indicate the government’s strategic ambitions and the kinds of operations the armed forces can support.
It also acknowledges ongoing concerns among MPs regarding potential capability gaps and reductions in the fleet size.
The briefing looks at future ships, both those under construction, like the Type 26 + 31 frigates, and those proposed, incl the Type 32, Type 83 + multi-role strike ships.
The briefing also discusses the state of the RFA, and concerns about capability gaps in both fleets.
— Louisa BrookeHolland (@brookehollandl) May 12, 2025
The document outlines the current number of Royal Navy and RFA ships, noting changes since the last official count. It also covers the development of new vessel classes, including the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates, which are set to replace the ageing Type 23 fleet, and the future Type 83 destroyers. The mine-hunting fleet’s transition to autonomous systems is also discussed.
In addition to ship numbers, the briefing addresses broader strategic considerations, such as the government’s commitment to UK-based shipbuilding. This includes ongoing projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the aim of supporting national defence capabilities while sustaining the domestic shipbuilding sector.
The forthcoming SDR is expected to examine the future design and composition of the Royal Navy, including confirmation of vessels currently under construction and updates on future ship types that are in the concept phase.
The briefing also touches on the strategic functions of the Royal Navy and RFA, including protecting the UK’s Overseas Territories, supporting NATO operations, maintaining freedom of navigation, and contributing to humanitarian missions. For further information and to access the full briefing, visit the House of Commons Library website here.
I’m sure there are numerous functions currently manned that can be transferred to automated Ai craft, allowing for the big tasks to human operators.
Yes, like mine sweeping, then the arm chair admirals all come on and decry the lack of mine sweepers and tell us we are not a proper navy anymore.
It’s interesting that the least “proper” navy we ever had was the fleet of the late 70’s through the early 90’s but many seem to have an idilic view of that force and see it as something to aspire to.
Offcourse all the “experts” in the 80’s harkened back to the fleet of the 50’s as being the ideal, perhaps it’s more of an age thing for armchair admirals 🤔
Lazerpig has a very good video on this subject.
Can we automate the arm chair admirals? 🤣 Come to think of it, that’s a bad idea, they may start making valid points!!!
is anyone aware of why venturer isn’t in the water yet?
It’s shy, very shy it’s been coming out of its Shed on and off for the last 2 years. Poor thing ! Maybe if George took his drone over there and left a nice carrot outside it would Venture out !
Babcock are just extremely tight lipped about anything, every time they gave a date it just went back, which is why you see lots about the T26 and very little about the T31.
At a guess I’d say they are waiting for the EU defence pact / ‘reset’ announcement due Monday 19th May.
Slightly off topic: 1st Sea Lord’s Sea Power Conference should have started today. I don’t even know who the First Sea Lord is! Do we have a stand in? I just looked and the conference is postponed. Maybe we’ll get some clues in Farnborough’s Combined Naval Event next week.
Sea power conference from a UK admiral? really? maybe it was postponed because the reality is we have divulged ourselves of the majority of our fighting power right at a time of unprecedented threats and emboldening of our enemies. Maybe it was postponed because the royal navy is in such a piss poor state we couldn’t fight our way out of a cardboard box currently.
Or maybe, the 1st Sea Lord has had to fall on his sword.
All very strange that. Correct me but I thought a sailor had one in every port. Maybe its a Russian set up in some way?
Mr Bell, I understand there is a perspective of glass half-empty that constantly rubbishes the strength and capability of our Navy but it is arguably still one of only two Rank 2 bluewater navies in the world, has 2 modern large carriers with 5th gen stealth jets (not many countries can say that), has a strategic nuclear role, has the best SSN submarines in the world and probably the best air defence destroyers. Our Navy may well be the best in Europe, and second-best in NATO. So I think we do have the status to host such a conference. [I am not complacent; there are capability gaps and fewer escorts than required].
Terribly embarrassing to cancel it at the last minute though. Surely the stand-in for 1SL could have hosted.
Reading this document, shows a profound litany of shame and essentially profound incompetence across government in its most import role, to defence te nation.
What is very clear is that
1) the first type 31 is probably not going to be deployable until close to 2030. ( the plan was 2023 for T31 and 2020 for type 26)
2) When you look at the stark dates around the T23 you can see the simple truth ( what I have said a few times) these ships are not lasting 6 years beyond their lifex, and they are going beyond economic repair 5-6 years before the 2015s conservative governments desperate make believe on how long it could keep ships running add to the other set of desperate make believe around how quickly new classes could be built and commissioned the RN is essentially fucked because if every T23 follows the same trajectory then the last T23 will be decommissioned by 2030/31.
3) possibly the worst statement of government incompetence comes from the statement the the MOD will not discuss future frigate and destroyer numbers and plans with the defence committee due to national security… essentially an admission that it’s so bad that any small amount of information that should be public domain cannot be released as it would show such levels of weakness as to endanger national security. This backs up the fact that in truth the RN escort numbers are likely to collapse even further..
The reality is the late 2028-30 period may see the RN frigate fleet down to a pair of T23s and a t26 and type 31 both still working up..
This is truly a national shame as the frigate fleet should have always been 20 strong.. I can honestly just about forgive the Labour government for cutting it fine down to 17 frigates in Geostrategically benign conditions of the 00s ( I consider their dropping to 6 AAW destroyers to be criminal mind).. but the worst crime sits with Cameron.. 2010 was seeing a geopolitical movement to a multipolar world and first rise of a belligerent china and Russia, he chose to ignore that and essentially destroyed the RN frigate fleet in the late 2020s by his actions, just at the highest risk of a peer war since the 1960s..when the RN needed to be able to communicate capability as a deterrent.. when now all it can really communicate is weakness, by refusing to say what size frigate fleet it will have in the late 2020s… a sort of anti deterrent, even though the MOD says it’s protecting national security by refusing to say, infact its just helping destroy the deterrent effect of the RN, refusing to say does not help national security because the point of military capability is to be seen.
It’s pretty clear that all this was caused by a guy called Dave back in 2010. Naval strategy is build strategy and the ramifications of cuts take decades to manifest then fix.
Every other western navy is struggling with much the same issues.
But we do have an end in sight but it won’t be for another ten years.
Depressingly true. We need to order more T26 and T31. Ditch the T32 it is just another excuse for procrastination and delay. We cannot afford any more delays, the country will be virtually undefended over the next 5 to 10 years.
Cameron was grossly negligent and if Starmer isn’t careful he will fall into the same category.
Cheers CR
I think for the Tories its a class thing. None of their friends were in the Navy. For Dave its as simple as that. All that Tech stuff and who would leave the social scene for months on end away on a cold grey sea? The last PM who really understood the Navy was Callaghan and before him Churchill although Thatcher had a passing interest.
Just read this report as well. Awful reading. The surface fleet could yet fall to single figures given the poor state of the T23 and the delays to the T26 and T31.
To be honest I don’t think the often mentioned fleet size of 24 to 30 escorts will be enough given the rising threat levels. Interestingly, the report does mention defending merchant ships as one of the key RN tasks, something that is little talked about, but if we do have to fight a war of national survival we will need a much much bigger navy to cover convoy escort duties. Even as part of a full strength NATO that would be a tall order, if only eNATO then we the UK may have extra responsibilities on the maritime front simple geography would dictate that requirement, we better hope Russia and the rest of the CRINK axis nations fall asleep for at least the next 10-20 years..!
Cheers CR
I would agree with you.. everyone forgets that the 97 review looked at the major surface combatants needed in a peaceful unipolar world and that number for a peaceful planet was 10 AAW destroyers, 10 ASW frigates, 10 GP frigates and around 10 2000 ton patrol/mine warfare vessels. That should have been the baseline in 2010.. Cameron should have had a defence review that noted the rise of Russia aggression ( invading other countries) and the rises of Chinese belligerence and considered an increased build from that ( say another 2-4 GP frigates for the pacific).. so a plan for 34 in 2010… 2014-15 with the invasion of Ukraine and essentially China moving forward with belligerent actions in the china seas should have seen a defence review with a plan to 40 escorts.. by 2022 with a major war in Europe, Russia now considered a direct enemy of NATO and China saying it would go to war in 2027. They should have been looking at a return to a Cold War 50+ escorts.. instead everyone is looking forward to getting back to 19 escorts by 2035 with a potential drop to 10 by the late 2020s just when ww3 has the highest potential likelihood of starting…. Utter insanity
Hi Johanthan,
I agree with your assessment, it is basically where I am and have been for sometime now. Although I might be pushing the numbers even higher given the state of our allies’ navies, especially the USN. I would also say that we need escort / drone carriers around which submarine hunting groups can be built as we might know where the Russian / CRINK subs are but we don’t appear to have sufficient ASW assets to exploit the intelligence!
Why higher numbers? Two additional reasons, we are an island nation and about 65% of our economy is dependent on international trade and spending 5% to 8% of GDP on defence / deterrence during peacetime is a lot better than 52% GDP during a war of national survival which will either last years because we have survived past the initial onslaught or will be over in weeks or months because we haven’t.
If the RN shrinks to just 10 escorts it will make defending our coastal waters virtually impossible let alone projecting power into the Baltic in support of our JEF responsibilities, although to be fair 14 escorts don’t make much difference..! What a bloody shambles!
T32 is a joke, what is it now 3 or 4 years and it isn’t even past concept phase! Cancel it and order 3 more T31, 4 more T26 as interim measures to extend the drumbeat and tell Babcock and BAE Systems to deliver as fast as possible. These two programs should then be set up as long term on going programs with equipment and where necessary the platform designs being spiral developed. For example, the T31 could switch from the A140 baseline design to the A170 design if the RN wanted a heavy AAW payload to support the destroyers or more bigger drones in support of the ASW force. Could even have two variants! Thing is the family commonalities between the A140 and A170 would greatly help with keeping costs under and timescales under control. In the short term crewing for the new ships won’t be a problem as the T23 are so far past their sell by date the crews will have nothing else to do anyway!
MRSS and MROSS need to be accelerated (my understanding is that MRSS is littoral strike and MROSS is an auxiliary mothership thingy). Both of these are desperately needed and need to be accelerated as well.
I would go as far as to suggest that we need a new shipyard to pick up some of the extra capacity and another Naval Base as we no longer have the basing to look after the fleet we desperately need as the ships have grown in size considerably in the last 30 to 40 years. In short, we are hopelessly unprepared for what is coming. Parliament is beginning to wake up to the problem, but the government, regardless or which party, clearly hasn’t got it yet. Why.!?
I think I am moving from depressed to angry now. What kind of world are we leaving to our kids / grand kids? One dominated by totalitarian China and Russia? Really?
Cheers CR
I agree. Complete dereliction of duty in fact. I have been posting for at least 10 years we should be having a full scale panic rearmament, yet amazingly the politicos seem able to sleep at night and probably through most of the day.
Ive read the document from start to finish, makes for grim readings. Huge capability gaps opening up within the Royal Navy that are unheard of, divulging ourselves of our amphibious and littoral warfare assets- HMS Albion and Bulwark at a time of international threats not seen since the height of the cold war. No heavy weight anti ship missile being available with future cruise and strike missile Anglo-French programme still years away.
Sole point of failure with RFA Victoria being the only fleet solid support ship and only 4 tankers being available of the Tide class with the withdrawal from service formally of Wave knight and Wave Ruler that could have at least been reactivated if required during a period of conflict.
At leas the introduction of NSM with 11 sets ordered will help with the navy’s lethality as we are down to just 8 frigates and 6 destroyers (14 vessels) so youd think vessels entering long term refit would give up their sets of NSM to keep the active fleet armed- 11 sets in actually going to be enough such has the British fleet been allowed to shrink and wither.
RFA Proteus and Sterling Castle have not been added too and the whole MCM is being downgraded without replacement, the autonomous systems intended to replace them have not been ordered and arent in service and nor are the motherships to deploy them- supposedly there were to be a fleet of 5-6 motherships for autonomous mine warfare and defence of sub sea assets- of which only Proteus and Sterling Castle are in service and how effective they are proving remains an unknown to the general public.
SDSR has to pull all ship building programmes to the left- meaning speed them up. Also need to see movement on both the type 31 and type 26 programmes to deliver more vessels out of these programmes built at pace, before construction then switches to type 83 and possibly type 32 frigate programmes- which in terms of the type 32 programme was announced under BoJo’s government and yet strangely is still in “concept phase” meaning it is pie in the sky and therefore we should just get more type 26 and type 31 frigates as these are tangible proven designs.
Adding type 41 VLS silos to the type 31 frigate programme is now reportedly going to be undertaken during a mid-life refit. So they are essentially going to be returning to the Fitted For But Not With fiasco I thought we had consigned to history books.
SDSR better bloody well get a grip on these matters otherwise it will be a complete fudge and load of tosh. Our NATO allies will see through the hot wind and fudged tosh management terminology that is so beloved of our civil service and government and we as a nation will singularly fail to deter aggression from states that wish us harm and to destroy the UK as a democratic and sovereign free nation.
Argentina will be emboldened to look at the Falklands again, China will continue its expansive military growth and continue pressurising its neighbours with territorial demands, Russia will continue to threaten the UK directly and continue to send submarine right up to the UK’s very shoreline without fear as they know we have disarmed ourselves at a time the rest of the world including our enemies is rearming.
Much rests on SDSR, without tangible serious determination to end the rot that set in under the Tories then we as a nation are heading for big big trouble. Is it any wonder why less than 50% of the fighting aged adults in the UK reportedly are willing to fight for this nation?
Those darn recruitment and retention issues mean we can’t build more ships! Darn it!
I know that some inshore patrol and survey vessels may be commissioned, but they are boats, not ships. HMS Bangor is less likely to go to war than HMS Victory. At least Victory can be used for propoganda. Ft Victoria is unlikely ever to sale and Cardigan Bay’s future hangs by a thread. The reality is that in terms of ships over 100 tons, the surface fleet (RN and RFA) consists of 10 patrol and survey ships, 8 frigates, 6 destroyers, 2 carriers and 10 support ships (excluding Ft Victoria).
That’s 36 ships of which 13 will be gone in the next 5 years, even assuming we can hold on to 4 T23s into the next decade and that’s being highly optimistic. We can hope for at most five new frigates to offset this. If we thought the loss of ships in the first half of this decade was a disgrace, I find myself in trouble thinking of words for what will happen over the decade as a whole. Infamous perhaps.
When I said Ft Victoria won’t sale, it was a Freudian Slip. It’s far more likely to sale than sail under a blue ensign again.
I served in the seventies to 90s thats when we had the last surface fleet, today’s numbers are a joke in all naval branches, the recruitment issues are because successive government have alienated the men they need to man their ships, then add the wokey. Lefty, Rainbow, diversity crap, and there lies your problem.
Looks like we served a similar timespan. In both years and era. I could not agree more with your comments. We need to invest in people now to crew the ships of the future. Retention needs to start today. No reviews just do it. Treat them properly and pay them properly. Perhaps they may stay.
Keep the LPDs. Use them in a dual role as training and Amphibious ops. You probably remember the days if Fearless and Intrepid being awash with Midshipmen. Worked then should work now.
I include the RFA in the same way.
We have politicians who have no concept of military affairs ( except maybe Navel) or the dangers now posed by the Chinese Navy or by Russian aggression. Why are we still fiddling with a fudged 2.5% GDP on defence when it needs to be at least 5.0% right now? No one is even daring mention the SSBN situation. How do they imagine this will work out in the years till Dreadnought is ready and fully Commissioned?
If we don’t speed up our procurement and building efforts, we will become a third rate country in less than 10 years
We must prevent this from happening!!
Several very knowledgable posts documenting and analysing the history of political decisions. 🙏
@Jonathan. I agree there is a risk that the T23s won’t last as long as was hoped.
But as they say, we are where we are. As CSG2025 shows we are going to have to rely on help from allies in the short term. @Mr Bell, I agree we need to move frigate build schedules in particular the T31 to the left.
The govt selected the defence industry as a key pillar of its economic growth strategy and I think their reliance on it will increase as faith in the Net Zero approach weakens and resistance to it increases. I have to believe the govt, BAE, Babcock and the RN are on the case and that lessons learned in the construction of the leading ships in the class will result in faster construction and induction of the later ships.
This isn’t just history, Paul. It’s happening now. Our armed forces continue to be hollowed out as you read this sentence. Six ships went the month before last. The philosophy of destruction persists. Governments talk all kinds of nonsense, but by their actions shall ye know them. It would have cost little to keep Albion and Bulwark in mothballs. Cardigan Bay could have gone into maintenance in a different country if we couldn’t do it here. The Defence Secretary was clearly being too mealy mouthed in Cabinet to get a reasonable increase this year. Instead this government has announced it will preside over two more years of destruction before raising the budget even enough to slow the decline.
I am willing to bet the SDR will ask for things that will have to be paid for by yet more hollowing out of conventional exepeditionary capability. Probably lots more UK security from the current noises, but there’s always a long laundry list of wants without matching finance.
The government are not on the case and everyone of us needs to write to their MP.
I understand your sentiments. I agree there has been a ‘philosophy of destruction’ in the past but I don’t believe there is one now: we are still fielding the consequences of past thinking. The reasons Albion and Bulwark are being sold are Ukraine, F-35 purchade, eye watering Dreadnought and an assessment of very low risk that we will need to employ them on our own or before we have MRSS. These decisions are taken by people, not all of whom are politicians who are way above my pay grade. I’m just saying what can we do to get of the hole we are in. We need to crack on with T26 and T31. The next 2-3 years will make a lot of difference. Get a few 31s into service with AI ASW drones and with FSS the RN picture looks a lot different. Meanwhile some creative thinking would be good e.g. I see the AAC are on POW with their army Wildcats 🤔
If you think we can “crack on” with the T31s, ie go faster, you are not being realistic. As for having even the first T31 in service in the next 2-3 years, dream on! 2029 at best and given current noises out of Babcock maybe even 2030. That’s just Venturer.
Destructive mindset: We’ll be getting some Type 31s, let’s decommission the B1 Rivers in 2028 (the year after the first T31 was supposed to come on stream, but now won’t) and replace them with the B2s, gapping overseas until the T31s come good. We are experimenting with uncrewed counter-mine vessels; so let’s decommission the Sandowns and the Hunts and if there’s a gap before the automated systems and their motherships come on line, it won’t be too bad.
Constructive mindset: Why don’t we start repurpose the six remaining Hunts as OPVs to replace the B1 Rivers in 2030? Being glass fibre, hull life should not be an issue, and they had their engines replaced about 15 years back. Hunts already function as OPVs as a secondary task (see the recent report on Middleton’s use in S&R) so there won’t be a lot of retraining. We can take out any expensive to maintain mine-hunting gear and run them as home-water OPVs until we get our act together in the 2030s and fund at 3%.
I’m not putting that up as an ideal solution; I’d like us to buy new, small OPVs, and I don’t think we should have sold off all the Sandowns until we had a working automated mine-clearance system. I am saying maybe this kind of thinking should leap to mind before destroying capabilities and gapping does.
Constructive thinking is good. Your idea re the Hunts is worth following up; we do need more OPVs. If they can replace the B1 Rivers then it makes it easier to consider replacing them with 3xT31. By cracking on I just meant don’t slack and go faster if you can e.g. I think Poland are building some T31 modules for Babcock
Its the economy st***d as they say. We have driven out the wealth creators and serious investors in less than 12 months! That in my opinion is the single most foolish thing this Government has done so far. No money No Navy.
I forgot to mention the Net Zero hollow out and The Chagos.
All in all I don’t think there’s a single branch of the RN that currently functions like a first class service should) all of them are paying the profile for the ridiculous 2010 SDR (Thanks Cameron) similarly the Army(possibly just starting to recover) and the Airforce.
Mr Bell, I understand there is a perspective of glass half-empty that constantly rubbishes the strength and capability of our Navy but it is arguably still one of only two Rank 2 bluewater navies in the world, has 2 modern large carriers with 5th gen stealth jets (not many countries can say that), has a strategic nuclear role, has the best SSN submarines in the world and probably the best air defence destroyers. Our Navy may well be the best in Europe, and second-best in NATO. So I think we do have the status to host such a conference. [I am not complacent; there are capability gaps and fewer escorts than required].
Terribly embarrassing to cancel it at the last minute though. Surely the stand-in for 1SL could have hosted.
Given the increasing focus on the Arctic can anyone tell me whether Britain has any plans to increase operating capability in the Arctic (and northern Baltic) by building at least some vessels to meet Polar Class standards. At least PC5 like the Canadians (who obviously have more of a needs) not a much as PC2 like the US plans. Or will we only go there in summer?