The Royal Navy’s ambitious Type 26 frigate programme marked another milestone today as construction officially began on HMS Sheffield, the fifth of eight planned City Class warships.
The ceremonial steel cutting took place at BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard in Glasgow, performed by 27-year-old Apprentice Fabricator Burner Michael Miller. The project, part of a larger programme to deliver eight advanced warships, is sustaining nearly 2,000 jobs in Scotland and 4,000 across the wider UK supply chain, hitting home the sector’s critical role in supporting skilled employment.
Attending the ceremony, Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle spoke on the economic and strategic importance of the programme:
“HMS Sheffield represents not just a cutting-edge addition to our fleet, but also demonstrates our commitment to supporting thousands of skilled jobs and economic growth across Scotland and the wider UK. This investment in our naval capability ensures we can continue to protect our nation’s interests while supporting British industry.”
The Type 26 frigates, among the world’s most advanced warships, are designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and high-intensity air defence but are versatile enough to support humanitarian missions.
These vessels are integral to the Royal Navy’s modernisation, replacing the ageing Type 23 fleet. HMS Sheffield follows HMS Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, and Birmingham, which are at various stages of construction on the Clyde. The first in class, HMS Glasgow, is expected to enter service by 2028.
BAE Systems continues to invest in its Glasgow facilities, including a £12m Applied Shipbuilding Academy and the Janet Harvey Hall, a state-of-the-art shipbuilding facility named after a World War II electrician.
Simon Lister, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Naval Ships business, praised the teams behind the project:
“HMS Sheffield’s construction will benefit from a range of investments, transforming our digital and physical infrastructure and consolidating a centre of excellence for UK shipbuilding in Glasgow. This is a proud moment for our talented teams across the UK.”
The programme also has a global dimension, with Australia and Canada adopting the Type 26 design for their own navies. Lessons learned across the three nations’ 32-ship programme will enhance efficiency and capability.
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Going to need more than eight type 26s. HMG needs to add back onto the programme another 2-4 ships.
Agreed, a clear need for four more T26’s and four more T31, to put minimum mass back…
Add 9 replacements for the T45 and we will reach 30 Escorts, a number we should never have dropped below.
Alas we probably dont have the crew numbers for that. We should probably long lead time those ships though, so the yards actually have something to do once this burst of work finishes
Given the glacial pace of construction you can train crews in 7 years….just needs recruitment -> training -> pay and condition -> accommodation -> retention to be sorted…..
They didn’t seem to think they could train crews for Albions in 6-7 years time, no sign of the situation improving
I hardly think the term “churn” applies to British shipbuilding as per the headline.
Babcock seem to think they can get the crew down to 50 on the T32 so it could I be that new ships save us on manning.
Way too low for a lot of the duties frigates do. For dedicated carrier escorts might work though
Type 32? Is that still a thing?? Heard neither sight nor sound about it in ages!
Should the RN have 30 surface combat ships, yes. Can the UK afford 9 T83s to replace the 6 T46s, probably not. What we could do is a bit diffrent but get us a fleet that is flexible. To replace the 6 T45s we could order 3 T83s with 96-112 missile cells, Sejong the Great would be a starting point for the design and 6 AAW T26s, call them T46. The AAW version of the T26 would have the forward Sea Ceptor cells replaced with Mk41 giving 5 blocks of Mk41s and the 24 CAAMs midships. If the 5 inch… Read more »
Just an extra point, T31 is a much more suitable platform than T26 for adaptation to AAW. You can fit a rotating SMART-L MM and fixed mast of any S-band panels, maybe CEAFAR. You don’t have to think about the mission bay, which doesn’t really work alongside AAW, and there’s more room for future upgrades. Then you end up with something more like the AA FREMM design, and they cost less as well. More T26s for me trumps T32. They don’t even need full tails, give them a stern ramp and containerised tails and you get the original genuine Global… Read more »
Babacock does have a AAW variant of the arrowhead 140 on their config site. I think it had 68 cells.
Where do you get the cell number from? I’ve checked the website but can’t find any hard number given.
You can have max 48 mk41 on the Arrowhead hull, 32 amidships and 16 in B position.
I don’t know whether, by deleting the two boat bays either side of the amidships space (so you have only the one sea boat) you could fit in extra ExLS cells or even mushroom farms to the sides like on the Iver Huitfeldt and bring the total up.
by then we’ll all have died of old age the fleet Will NOT GROW until the 2040’s.
Yes, not sure I would describe current pace as ‘churning out’
is it April fools already? churning out it’s a disgrace and the Clyde should be told in no uncertain terms that their performance is unacceptable.
not going to happen we’ve got half lined up for the scrapyard the R.N will lose the type 23 faster than we can comission new ones..just so sad.
How is the type 26 frigate program ambitious, only 8 compared to 16 type 23 and built at a glacial pace
The ambition is to outlast 7 or 8 prime ministers without any being cancelled or sold.
And also nearly double the size of a T23.
Numbers still matter, that mistake was made with the T45. Although 1 T45 could essentially do the same job as 2 type 42s ( and more) it can still only be in 1 place and the 2 T42s can be in 2 places and if the one T45 breaks you have no ships but if one of the T42 breaks you still have 1 ship… also radar horizons mean two ships will always provide better radar cover than one..even if it has better sensors…it still cannot look through the sea.
Churned out is not a phrase I would use to describe this situation were not one ship has even gone out for trials
Churned out suggests speed of delivery.
Which we are not seeing. But, we could.
I’d be happier if tails on T26 and T31 were progressing at pace.
Yes at the present pace the RN will likely drop to a low of 11 escorts.
“Churned out”? Hardly, the Chinese churn out. Scotland bumbles. Think “ferry”.
Small numbers at a snails pace isn’t my idea of churning out or ambitious!
Welcome to the future fleet Sheffield, may your future be as glorious as your WW2 namesake. Now can we have a few more of these well designed ships and a bit quicker of the production line. How about BAE speeding up construction and the UK government paying a fixed sum per year, so say £1.2 billion per year for 15 years. Then this is what we need and this is the time frame we need it. Only on the condition that the next ships are in the pipe line. The UK Government also needs to make a regulation, no ship… Read more »
You don’t need to tax anyone extra to achieve this. You just need to defeat the Treasury’s cynicism. The Treasury’s failure to offset the build’s currently imposed taxes, makes building in the UK seem more expensive than it is. If you keep building, the cost per unit drops, there’s no need to lose and restore workforce. Because you are selling early, the fleet is on average far younger, availability increases, maintenance costs are lower, operation costs are lower, emissions are lower (which matters to Labour). If you manage to get sales, the overall build costs netted against the amount of… Read more »
T23 was supposed to work like that, we’ve clearly abandoned that idea
The Treasure resents spending on defence, according to a former Treasury manderin who was recorded for TV (can’t remember which channel). I would pass a law that required all Government spending took into account direct tax returns on spend but also credits secondary economic impacts, etc. spending in local shops. The Treasury already has a evidenced process/formula for doing this and it is quite happy for other sectors to use it, so why not defence? In the UK 1% of the work force is employed in Primary industries (farming, mining, etc.), 9% are involved in secondary industries and 81% tertiary… Read more »
How many years will Glasgow have been in the water before reaching service? Probably longer than any T45 has actually done on the job.
Well she’s only floating in a dock currently, be in there for 1 or 2 more. Then sea trials
Ok, the hull fabrication processes seem to have sped up for both BAE and Babcock, but the fitting out processes are still too slow.
As well as the time spent on building and fittting, we then have sea trials which will absorb even more time.
More investment and more resources needed.
Churn is a great English word which has F.A. to do with ships or boats. 😀🏴☠️❤️✌️