The refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy has set out how many ships and of what types are to be built in the United Kingdom over the next 30 years.
According to the document:
“As Sir John Parker highlighted in his 2019 review, volume is an important effciency driver and Government shipbuilding opportunities may help to insulate yards against the volatility of a challenging global market. While the overwhelming majority of the value of the Government shipbuilding portfolio comes from MOD vessels, there are opportunities for UK industry across a range of vessel types in the Government portfolio.
To provide greater transparency of these forthcoming opportunities, we have updated the 30 Year Master Plan and developed a 30 Year Cross-Government Shipbuilding Pipeline.
The NSO will oversee this pipeline, working with Departments to manage this against UK
industrial capacity. As the pipeline spans a 30 year period, it is subject to change and
will be agreed through future Spending Reviews. The NSO will update this pipeline at
each multi-year Spending Review, however, we will be reliant upon industry delivering
programmes to cost and time so that we can minimise changes to the pipeline and provide greater certainty.”
According to a Government statement:
“First published in 2017, the National Shipbuilding Strategy outlined ambitions to transform naval procurement, securing export and design contracts for British naval ships. Building on that success, this refresh outlines the government’s further ambitions to reinvigorate the whole British shipbuilding industry.
Over £4 billion of government investment will galvanise and support shipyards and suppliers across the UK, with new measures including better access to finance, vital skills-building, and funding for crucial research and development into greener vessels and infrastructure.
Designed in partnership with industry and delivered by the recently formed National Shipbuilding Office (NSO), the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh will also deliver a pipeline of more than 150 new naval and civil vessels for the UK Government and Devolved Administrations over the next 30 years. The vessels will include large warships, Border Force cutters, lighthouse vessels and the new National Flagship.”
Here’s the plan.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“2021 will be remembered as the year HMS Queen Elizabeth – the most powerful surface vessel ever built in Britain – embarked on her first operational deployment. Assembled by a cast of more than ten thousand highly skilled workers in six iconic dockyards – Appledore, Birkenhead, Govan, Portsmouth, Rosyth and the Tyne – the carrier is the very best of British engineering and she is a floating showcase for the world-class talents of our nation’s finest shipwrights. With this vessel, and everything she represents, as our inspiration, 2022 will be remembered as the year that we bear down on our shipbuilding ambitions.
Ambition, however, is not enough. So this strategy sets out our plan to stoke the flame of the renaissance in British shipbuilding across our great Union. We are starting by extending our scope well beyond purely naval to commercial shipbuilding. The focus is looking beyond the hulls to the systems and sub-systems. And we are going to do more to focus on the factors critical for future success: skills, technology and access to finance.
Next, we will give industry a much clearer demand signal about what we are trying to achieve with our procurement programmes. For the first time we are releasing a 30-year pipeline of all Government vessel procurements. As well as Ministry of Defence vessels, this will include ships such as those procured by the Home Office; the Department for Transport; the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; UK Research and Innovation; and the Devolved Administrations. Our new National Flagship will be the
trailblazer of our strategy, as a beacon of British technology, ingenuity, and trade. This strategy will give UK firms a thorough understanding of our policy and technology priorities. The maritime sector will know the value we place on regional growth, skilled jobs and thriving supply chains, and how they can help us to level up across the UK.”
👏👏 Good work.
The synic in me would say almost half the vessels in the UK government strategy are not UK government but devolved administration vessels. Will the UK government be passing a new law that states devolved administration have to build in the UK? The UK government it self does not build non warships in the UK so is it going to force Scotland to buy Ferries from the UK while letting the RN buy tankers in South Korea?
I agree the ‘plan’ is weak on detail. That said it’s good that a holistic high level plan has been done. At least we have a fairly complete inventory of tasks on paper which can be discussed and refined and doing this does affirm HMG intention to make (warship) shipbuilding a key industry. They have realised that a healthy RN = a healthy UK because it enables a host of political, social and economic objectives.
Aren’t the SNP snubbing RoUK yards and pushing tenders to Poland etc, whilst making demands Westminster build in Scotland.
https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/new-calmac-islay-ferries-wont-be-built-in-scotland.
Don’t think it is a case of snubbing, after the disaster of the 2 ferries being build at Fergusons shipyard. This time they have gone for potentially the cheapest and quickest option by awarding to Poland.
That’s interesting so from this I read that every government procured vessel large or small is now going to be built in the U.K. That would be a pretty impressive step I have to say….and yes I’m going to say it ( as someone who voted remain) this is only possible because we are not in the EU. But I will be impressed only if HMG do infact only procure from British yards. Also looking at some of the timelines I’m seeing a potential uptick in RN hulls in the water here so potentially: 10 type 31/32 all in service… Read more »
They also missed a DP for replacement Carrier Strike- needs to be DP in 2040-45 to deliver 2060-70
Very good point although maybe they are only including what’s going to be built up into 2050. But as you say you would have though it would be a line around development starting in 45.
The carriers have a projected 50 year lifespan. Far to soon to be thinking about their replacements. Lets get enough Merlins, Wildcats, F35Bs onboard and an adequate soverign carrier battlegroup first.
To be honest we don’t know what navel air power will even look like in 50 years…it’s a long time especially with the way autonomous systems are going. navel airpower in the end of the century may be a far more defused affair, but we will probably all be dead by then so UKDJ will have a whole new group to go on about carriers this and that.
I just had a quick look at my back to the future UKDJ homepage for March 2070. There are loads of complaints about our 2 new Carriers to replace the QEClass. Here’s a typical one:
“Usual Treasury penny-pinching – putting planes on these brilliant new Carriers which should be literally covered in the latest Drones. A great capability operating with 2020’s technology. Who has a Carrier with planes on it FFS!”
With 6 vessels as long as large with through decks and roll on ability roll off via well deck. Large helo/ UAV capability. Should be interesting.
Bulwark and Albion will need to remain in service for a while longer. No other vessel can carry and land heavy armour over a shoreline. That capability is still needed.
Yes agree, the literal strike ships are going to be really good assets especially for the RM and a commitment for the strategic sea lift ships is good. But the Albions as you say have some very specific capabilities which will need to be replaced ( even if they have a few years in them yet).
They are in pretty good shape as they have been well looked after and were the first of the really high quality builds.
Low miles too as they are used alternately.
Good point on the low miles, they do get a nice rest. How many years would you say they have with the present one on one off usage ?
It’s a very nice shopping list and great for British industry. Hope there are some extra helos for the RN along with all these vessels too. Extra merlin’s, updated Wildcats, drones and any future vertical lift. Would have liked to see an additional Astute here especially if 🇦🇺 choses this type. Good to see all this rejuvenation of the RN.
Future AAW timing looks like a T45 upgrade rather than T83 unless the T26 in build are finished as AAW ships and T23s continued in service,
No number on the AAW capability, I notice. Hope for 8?
It’s always better to do a job right first time. There is a cost in lives to cheapskate decisions. How much did it cost in lives because we built our hospitals to cheaper designs which facilitate the spread of covid than those in Europe? How much is it costing the economy to widen ‘intelligent motorways’? What we could do with is more intelligence in Whitehall. We have a debilitating cultural problem rooted in the empire mindset which sees the population of this country not as human beings but as an economic resource to be milked at minimum cost.
Why so low. If we are hoping lets hope for 12. Give back some real fighting power to the RN.
The 6 multi role vessels replace 3 Bay, 2 Albion, and Argus.
That is how I read the MRSS requirement.
Meanwhile, I hear both RFAs Wave Knight and Wave Ruler are laid up in reserve. 😡
Nothing about Albion replacement disappointing
National Flagship. Are there any more details yet regarding this vessel with a projected 2025/26 service date?
This is a great piece of news, a chance for British shipyards to modernize with the latest equipment to increase their efficiency and many highly skilled, well paid jobs for people.
So actually toting it all up they are looking by the early to mid 2030s to have more that 24 escorts. 8 T26s 5 T31 5 T32 6 T26 but also with a future AAW escort starting to be in service by the late 26-30 as well a new build of general purpose frigate in service from 2036 ( with the 31s only being a decade old). This looks like it’s a document for a vert increased escort build rate, so I would suspect we are going to see the high end AAW built on the T26 hull and the… Read more »
UK to inject £4 billion into shipbuilding to deliver 150 naval and civil vessels
“The shipbuilding fund was originally announced in 2020 but the strategy has been refreshed, with Boris Johnson set to mention “rising Russian aggression”.
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-to-inject-4-billion-into-shipbuilding-to-deliver-150-naval-and-civil-vessels-12561973
thanks for the link, hopefully we will also see the annual RN budget increases to cover ongoing costs of more commissioned in service ships.
It was interesting that the labour music, is actual very close to the government, with just a more and make sure its British slant. So in reality that’s a cross party agreement on more ships and boats built in British shipyards…maybe we are seeing a bit more strategic geopolitical wisdom coming into play.
I think in the contracts as an award for getting it should be stipulation that we have covered factory style facilities and also capacity to do additional parallel work for export and some commitment to also do a slowly increasing percentage of civilian work so that this acts as a stimulus package for industry.
Hello DRS, I agree with you completely!
Not necessarily Jonathon. Shipbuilding plan was to sell on the type 31s when they are maybe 7-10 years old and keep building.
As long as we get a reasonable price from a friendly nation eg over 50% the cost we paid then im fine with that. Or we keep building and genuinely do get an escort fleet over 24 hulls. Which would be great.
The new air warfare ships in service date is interesting as seems there will be a cross over between type 45s and type 83.
yes mr bell, selling early is a good idea but I thought they were looking at more a 15 year age for disposal. The type 83 is interesting as the timeframes means they will have to use one of the present hull production lines so it’s probably going to be a T26 hull ( as the T83 will be both ASW and AAW if the 80 designation follow through). but from that chart we are going to be having 4 different escorts being built at the same time. That’s a massive uptick in hulls in the water for the complex… Read more »
Really, Jonathan. Are we reading the same plan? Eight Type 26s by early 2030? Perhaps I’ve missed something because it doesn’t read like that to me. Exactly the opposite. The bar for the T26s stretches to 2042. So the first will be in service in 2027 (where the little diamond is) and the last in 2042. An extremely slow build, possibly even slower than the first batch. The Type 31s were all supposed to be in service by 2029/2030. We see the bar stretching to 2031, but I’d hope that was just pessimism and things are still broadly on track.… Read more »
Sadly you may actually be correct, although it may be one of the most confusing Gantt chartS I have ever seen. Maybe that’s the point.
Now I feel like like the heartless b*****d who just broke the news that Santa isn’t real, but I’m sure in your heart you knew that anyway. If a contract is signed for the Type 83 in 2026 as this plan suggests, the defence equipment plan will need some major financial updating, and that’s actually possible. Alas, my gut is telling me that the plans are all still business as usual, and a 2038 in-service date is tooth-fairy territory. For an hour or two, I allowed myself a sliver of hope, and it felt good. Maybe I’ll leave something under… Read more »
We can all hope Jon. But in reality I don’t think western governments really think geopolitics anymore, it’s more about the minimal possible spend and a bucketful of hope that history does not come knockIng on their shift.
Had a conversation with my brother today who is not the most defence aware individual but even he thinks NATO has effectively given up on the rest of the world and has retreated behind its fence. We both came the the conclusion that we are not even sure the US would be there for a European NATO member.
Fascinating. So future air warfare design finished by 2026/2027 with in service date before 2030. Type 83 needs to be a cruiser sized vessel armed to the teeth with ability to undertake BMD. 12 hulls needed. 6 type 45s are not enough.
The OSD for T45 are 2035 onwards so perhaps those dates refer to upgraded T45s, with mk41 vls and sea ceptor, or perhaps just PIP.
Is the OSD for the T45s correct? They have missed how much of their expected use by now? 30%, 40%, 50%? Does that not stretch the OSD further into the future?
Secondly, there must be no doubt that the Royal Marines need to be put back up to their old strength, yet no Ocean replacement?
I’d imagine the OSD will be put back, especially given all the PIP and supposed mk41 Vls and Ceptor upgrades. They will be barely finished by 2030, hardly worth it if they don’t have a longer life.
MRSS, 6 of them, will form the littoral response platforms for the Royal Marines.
I think you guys are reading this wrongly. The in-service date is where the diamond is, so 2038.
Ah! Yes I believe you are correct sir.
I want this but turned up to 11.
It should be that if anyone needs a vessel with any level of complexity at all, civilian or military, the UK should be the place to come.
I can avoid being my usual grumpy self though, because this does look like a step in the right direction. We are in a crisis at the moment, but let us not forget that a competent well-equipped navy is just as at home defending our interests as it is delivering water to places such as Tonga after a natural disaster.
Surely there could be another yard in England or Northern Ireland included? The rate that the T26 is being knocked out is akin to the yard being paid a day rate for the job. Yes, I know thery are complex platforms, however, the US yards are building their Frigates and Destroyers at the rate of 1 completed within 12-14 months start to finish. Their fleet is to increase from 292 to 530. Why are our yards taking so long? One glaring omission for my money is some green water subs. The Russian Kilos are green water specialists, it’s no use… Read more »
For me another missed opportunity. no mention of the submarine fleet and no real commitment to specific ships and a more detailed schedule with ring fenced money agreed by all funders, which equals no real commitment = no certainty for industry to invest and reduce price whilst increasing throughput. We need a plan that states there will be x volume of each type of vessel each 5 years and the money is committed. This is back of a fag packet stuff, the PM and Sec Defence really should be ashamed to be presenting this. Strategy is only realised when there… Read more »
I think they may be waiting for the Australian decision on their submarine plans due in 2 months before coming down on that one. That could upend anything decided now. What it doesn’t mention is the new class of green water diesel-electric (or whatever) submarines we need to protect our offshore infrastructure. BTW can anyone estimate how much less costly it would be to be building the Astute successor in collaboration with Oz if it were made a joint programme in 2 places? I hope that the increased build rate will come form exports, where a little progress is being… Read more »
From what I have read, the US will be building them, whatever crumbs we are going to get from that table. I agree with you entirely Matt, we desperately need new diesel electrics. The Japanese have just commissioned what is said to be the most advanced DE sub in the world with its Taigei. We haven’t produced our own DE’s since the Upholder class that was world-beating in the 1970s. Between then, we have lost 40 years of experience.
There is a mention of subs. It says they are being handled in a separate strategy document.
Agreed, not even divided into size class to get a real understanding of what’s being built… I’d have settled for the double decker bus metric as long as they were clear on how a fishery protection vessel differed to a maritime protection vessel, to a rapid response craft.
There’s a big diffference between a Scimitar Patrol boat, a River B2 and a T45…
good point, they could have done it by price point or size/complexity xxx – £20m, xx £1bn I have done the maths on this and it needs £4 to 5bn of funding every single year of the plan (including submarines – which take 50% of the overall budget). Also where is the drumbeat – surely a statement such as “we will produce 1 complex warship every 2 years as a minimum commitment” or we will build 1 ferry every 4 years. It isn’t hard and given the HMG supposedly has 2.5-3k small vessels why haven’t they been included as that… Read more »
“Also where is the drumbeat” Quite, this reads like more of a manifesto pledge than a plan that has anything other than air behind it. I have the feeling that industry will be rather cautious about how much they invest until they’ve seen something to back this up.
I’m glad they’re thinking about it, but not enough substance right now.
indeed, there are no state secrets at play here its a really simple piece of maths The RN fleet size is X and the future mix of asset types is Y Q1. How do we get it to that size? Q2. How do you schedule the move between types Q3. How do you refresh with either the same type or the replacement type. Q4. How do you level out the schedules to ensure a flat rate of money spent per annum. the above then creates the drumbeat. Additionally, the plan should be 25 years not 30 as a nuclear reactor… Read more »
It’s hard to judge this until the ships are actually ordered, and at present there are only 3 Type 26s and 5 T31s under construction along with the SSBNs.
Anybody spot the phrase..”up to 5 type 32 frigates” ?
The graphic suggests we are committing to only one Type 32 in the initial batch. I really hope that’s wrong.
Yep, but what is the double height line that follows both Type-31 and Type-32?
Successor GP frigate.
“Up to 5x Type 32…” – Heard this one before
Is there a breakdown on who got the non-MOD contracts?
Never mind. It breaks down the 6 dockyards that will be used. I know Cammell Laird will be getting the flagship.
This revised strategy puts considerable pressure on the Scottish government to deliver urgently needed ferries. What project review process will be in place by the new shipbuilding office to ensure these vital lifelines are built on time and to cost
Ocean Surveillance ship for ocean cable protection? Or will that fall under the 6x support ship?
Missing MROSS. Good catch. The “Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance capability” used to be called Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS). I might be reading too much into this, but I wonder if that means it will be a capability delivered by drones. I’m not sure what that bodes for a Scott replacement.
It’s decribed as a ‘capability’ in the text not a ship. Expect it to be a COCO (contractor owned contractor operated) ship or ships with naval hydrographic parties embarked (which would explain the 15 person crew in prevous annoucements). Ocean Infinity our of Plymouth would seem likely as they specialise in deep ocean survey and this ship(s) needs to protect underwater cables. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi2-prod.devonlive.com%2Fincoming%2Farticle5284661.ece%2FALTERNATES%2Fs615b%2F20210411_132535-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
Cheers for that.
That is one hit with the ugly stick ship.
The National Flagship has moved from MoD back to cross-government, as was originally announced last year. I hope that means its funding will too.
Interesting that Trinity House are in on this.
Why not the RNLI?
RNLI is not a government agency and does not receive government funding, it is a privately held charity.
Aha. I thought that was true of TH, too.
RNLI is multi-national, also covering Ireland.
I know that – plus I think it is joint between ROI and NI.
I once went on a TQM course with the bloke who was running it.
Trinity House is an endowed charity (it does not raise funds but pays it’s staff from the proceeds of an endowment) but serves as the General Lighthouse Authority, i.e. a government agency, and it’s aids to mariners and vessels are paid for by the government. RNLI lifeboat services are coordinated with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, but the RNLI buys it’s own vessels and does not serve as a government agency.like TH.
Presumably the Devolved Govts have been fully consulted on this.
It’s a lot of decisions for Scottish Gov to make quickly, considering their recent ferry fiasco.
After the crossrail fiasco I wouldn’t think Westminster does much better.
Bit of a red herring, there 🙂 .
Crossrail seems to be destined to work.
Wasn’t most of the navy builds already known, it’s just goals for future build times with a lot of numbers not guaranteed.
All I can see that is new for a build that isn’t a future hope is the mine countermeasures support ships being built
Unbelievable they are still going to waste money on the national flagship…
I suppose it depends what it does. If it actually has a useful capability ( like a cover for James Bond or something). But I suspect it’s a big old vanity project.
And boy does he love a vanity project…
And parties, he really likes parties and wine and women….
Not so keen on rules through.
Boris has to have his big boys toys. He has lost his giant bridge, so this is a toy boat, to go with his garish aircraft, to make up for it…….
I read on Navy Lookout that the Pont class ROROs could all be replaced for less than the cost of this vanity project…….
Great article that. I’m sure there is a long list of eminently more useful things the money could be spent on.
There was a lovely picture of HMS ocean in that article… with just two flat tops once Argus goes, that would be a far more useful thing then a place for Boris to have parties unscrutinised on the high seas.
Sorry @Grant, I accidentally flagged your comment- page was loading funny and fat fingers…
What would be useful is a bit of clarity on the tonnage of all of those vessels- where do common sizes and requirements provide scope for settling on a fewer number of designs across devolved government and defence? There are a number of fishery protection, fast response, and maritime protection vessels- do they translate into a single OPV design or are they all of different sizes? That’s just an example, but it’s hard to tell when everyone uses different terminology. Also, can someone please cancel the national flagship, it’s embarrassing in this age of rising cost of living and sanctioning… Read more »
Are they going to rebuild that old battleship drydock at Portsmouth, so it can take QE/PoW?
Are they going to give Cammell Laird £100m+ so it can build that new large drydock, they wanted in 2016?
In 30 years should we be looking to be off this planet and going to a base at least on the moon
The national shipbuilding strategy of 2019 was a farce because all surface ship orders went north of the border resulting in the closure of Appledore Shipbuilders in north devon .Completely decimating a good skilled work force, believe it when orders are placed.
The point of this strategy is to provide long-term certainty around work for UK yards, rather than the odd contract here and there with yards idle in between. By showing the total work and timelines, yards can plan, invest and train staff. Harland &Wolff is doing a great job regenerating Belfast, Appledore and the steel fabrication yards in Scotland. With orders for component parts or whole vessels they will start to rebuild skills and infrastructure.
An open question:
Any thought of putting a mix of CAMM and CAMM-ER on RN T26/31 ships if the current 6 pack silos support the heavier missile? It could give an increased Air defence ability across the fleet and in light of T45 availability. An article on Jane’s mentions the Saudi navy is looking at having both so why couldn’t we? CAMM-ER would be like the ESSM for 40-50Km+.
The RA could also have mixed truck based CAMM launchers too.
Looks like the timeline has been kept as vague as possible. There are 40+ ferry type vessels in the list surely that’s 30 years work for a couple of UK yards. But it requires thought and commitment.
Does anybody know what the yards’ actual capacity is? If there were wartime losses, or if a large expansion was suddenly demanded, how many hulls could we actually construct or quickly expand to construct? I’m thinking in particular of the SSN fleet and whether it’s even feasible to build more Astutes between current construction, the replacements in a few decades and the potential Australian order. Similar considerations might apply to the escort fleet too though.