HMNB Devonport is set for £7.1 billion of infrastructure upgrades as the Royal Navy prepares the Plymouth base for Type 26 frigates, submarine support and an expanded role in maritime autonomy.
HMNB Devonport is being prepared for the arrival of the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates as part of a £7.1 billion programme of upgrades to the naval base and dockyard, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The scale of the work was outlined during a visit by Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, accompanied by Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP and Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard. According to a Ministry of Defence news update, the investment forms part of Royal Oak, a £26 billion, ten-year programme to modernise Britain’s naval infrastructure described by the Government as the largest programme of its kind since the end of the Cold War.
Devonport is due to become home to the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates, placing the base at the centre of the surface fleet’s future North Atlantic and submarine-hunting capability. The base already has a separate strategic role as the UK’s only facility responsible for the deep maintenance and defuelling of Royal Navy nuclear submarines. Maintenance undertaken at Devonport contributes to keeping the submarine fleet available, while its defuelling facilities are used as older nuclear-powered boats move through the decommissioning process.
Streeting visited naval personnel and industry teams involved in engineering and maintenance work and inspected facilities being constructed to support the submarine fleet. The £7.1 billion allocated across Devonport Naval Base and Dockyard is intended to provide new and upgraded infrastructure while improving readiness and the availability of ships and submarines based or maintained there.
Streeting said, as quoted in the news update: “The work done here at Devonport is critical to keeping our country safe. From our Commando Forces ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, to our Navy personnel and industry who maintain our submarines – Plymouth is a city where defence runs in the blood.”
He added: “As we bring the Type 26 fleet to Devonport in the coming years, we’re investing in this base and our forces, ensuring it will remain at the heart of our naval power for generations to come, and continuing to push the frontier of defence innovation.”
The investment in Devonport is running alongside a wider modernisation of the UK Commando Force. Around £500 million was committed in the Defence Investment Plan to continue that transformation, including new high-speed boats as well as drone and autonomous technologies. Plymouth is home to Royal Marines and other elements of the UK Commando Force, giving the wider area a role in both conventional naval support and the development of new littoral capabilities.
Pollard said, as quoted in the same news update: “Devonport is the beating heart of Plymouth, and it was fantastic to welcome the Secretary of State here today to see for himself what our Commando Forces, submariners, and dockyard workers do for our national security.”
He continued: “This is a base with a proud history and an even brighter future. The Type 26 fleet and the continued investment in our submarine capability means Devonport will remain vital to the defence of this country, and vital to jobs and skills here in Plymouth.”
The Type 26 will become the Royal Navy’s principal specialist anti-submarine warfare frigate, replacing the eight Type 23s currently assigned to that role. Basing the new class at Devonport means the current infrastructure programme must support not only the ships themselves but the engineering, logistics and training arrangements necessary to sustain them through decades of service.
8 type 23 assigned to the anti sub role? Are there even that many floating?
I noticed that too!
5 i think are in service, not sure all have TAS, or if it works.
All five of those that remain have TAS, but HMS Kent is still in deep refit so arguably isn’t tasked.
I don’t suppose a larger fully covered refit complex is on the cards ? The existing one has served well but it just isn’t big enough for the modern ships. It may not be a sexy new Super Dooper, Gold Plated, “World Leading” bit of military kit, but a covered facility speeds up refits and maintenance which effectively is a force multiplier in its own right. You just need to look at the Forest of Tarps covering the T45’s at Pompey to see the sort of measures needed without proper, weather proof modern facilities.🤔
May be handy for T9Xs in future, they will need space for maintenance too if the shed hasn’t fallen apart by then.
An ‘unmanned vessel centre of excellence’ etc etc.
Does Wes Streeting know what happened to the previous Royal Oak? I doubt it!
Poor choice of name – no understanding of how relatives of dead sailors might feel
Is that last sentence for real?
Absurd.
It was 80 years ago. Very few people are alive who knew people aboard HMS Royal Oak.
Do you make this complain about Ark Royal? When she entered service in the 50s after HMS Ark Royal sank in 41? Or when HMS Ark Royal entered service in 1981? Or when project Ark Royal started in the 2020s?
What about HMS Prince of Wales?
Did you complain when HMS Sheffield was laid down in 2024 (or 1986)? After all I’d bet more people are alive who knew the 20 dead crew and 30 injured aboard her when she went down than Royal Oak.
Certainly PoW is the more embarrassing disaster and nobody raised an eyebrow except when it sailed to the Pacific under the umbrella of Chinese land-based air power.
”Maintenance undertaken at Devonport contributes to keeping the submarine fleet available…”
”replacing the eight Type 23s currently assigned to that role”
‘…bringing with him a rare technical precision and analytical depth that continues to set his reporting apart’
Seriously? Remind me to put Craig on ignore.
Yes, “the eight Type 23s currently assigned to that role” grated on me too, and it’s certainly a good example of why claiming technical precision isn’t a good idea if you don’t have the time or the processes to execute it. (Even Claude could have successfully fact checked that one on Sonnet.) The submarine one is arguably true even though our overall submarine availability sucks; we do still maintain CASD after all.