HMS Glasgow, the first of eight Type 26 Frigates, was moved from one dry dock into another at the BAE Systems yard in Scotstoun, Glasgow, to make way for HMS Cardiff, the second of eight, soon leaving the BAE Sytems yard at Govan, Glasgow.
The movement occurred early in the morning last week.
HMS Glasgow has reached approximately 65% completion, marking significant advancements in its construction phase. The focus has been on major equipment installations, including the fitting of the bow sonar and preparations for the main gun installation.
Currently in Scotstoun for outfitting, Glasgow is on the cusp of entering its testing and commissioning phases.
Here’s an image, via a reader. pic.twitter.com/IyYzX0bpoK
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) August 27, 2024
With sea trials anticipated in 2026, these upcoming steps are critical for validating Glasgow’s capabilities and performance, aligning with the scheduled handover to the Royal Navy the same year.
HMS Cardiff is preparing for the subsequent outfitting and testing phases, which involve integrating combat systems and operational technologies essential for its mission capabilities. Cardiff is poised to enter the water in a week or so. Following Glasgow’s relocation to a ‘wet dock,’ Cardiff will occupy the vacated dry dock, facilitating its outfitting and testing in a controlled environment.
New imagery shows HMS Cardiff on a submersible barge before being floated off downriver. Over the coming days, the ship, currently weighing nearly 6,000 tonnes, will undergo a series of complex manoeuvres to move from BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard by barge, be towed downriver to a deep-water location in the West of Scotland, and be lowered into the water.
The frigate will then be brought back upriver to Scotstoun to continue fitting out. Not quite a conventional launch, but a launch nonetheless. Once in position, the float-off will involve slowly submerging the base of the barge over several hours until HMS Cardiff fully enters the water. She will then return to BAE Systems’ Scotstoun shipyard further along the Clyde, where she will undergo the next outfit stages before test and commissioning.
For those wondering how they moved the ship, little wheeled vehicles were moved under the vessel, you an see this on the previous frigate, HMS Glasgow, when she was moved in a similar way back in 2022.
According to Malin Group, the barge will initially be used to transport and ‘launch’ the Type 26 Frigates being built by BAE Systems for the Royal Navy and then berthed on the Clyde and made available to industry as required, “catalysing further opportunities for the wider supply chain in fields including shipbuilding, civil construction and renewable energy”.
John MacSween, Managing Director of the Malin Group, said previously about the barge:
“Securing this piece of equipment marks another positive step forward in the reawakening of the shipping and large-scale marine manufacturing industry in Scotland. This versatile asset, based on the West Coast of Scotland, can be used for launching and bringing ships ashore, docking vessels locally or at remote locations as well as being used to relocate large structures around the UK and further afield.
We are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with the internationally renowned tug and barge owner specialists Augustea, as well as work with Hat-San who are bringing years of shipbuilding experience to the conversion. We are also extremely grateful for the support we have had from Scottish Enterprise in making this project a reality.”
The barge is a joint venture between the Malin Abram and Augustea and, now modified, represents one of the largest in Europe – it can submerge to load vessels and cargo with draughts of up to 12m and over 137m in length.
It will be based on the Clyde between projects.
‘Little wheeled vehicles’, only little in terms of the Frigate anything but if you see them up close. So Glasgow is ‘65%’ complete I had presumed it was nearer 80 to 90% by now as that last 10% tends to drag on with testing et al before any construction is ready to rock an role on its way to true completion.
After nearly 2 years at Scotstoun it’s a pretty scary number. Just 65%, the T45s were launched at 60% complete.
Soon be in for refit… Well already in I suppose…. Sad show I think.. Just watched sink the Bismark.. It’s all said in the first ten minutes… ‘if we had a hundred more it wouldn’t be enough… From the biggest navy in the world at the time….
She looks amazing but given that the first steel was cut 7 years ago and she is still only 65% complete, with the additional sea trials and acceptance into service taken in to account, just when will she be ready ?
Are we looking at a realistic date somewhere @ 2030 now ?
I know, she’s the first of her type and I’m no ship builder, just keen to learn though.
Is N.A.B. still here ?
Still got another two years before she goes to sea for trails, you’d hope they’d try get their finger out a bit?
The new frigates can’t come into service soon enough. Thought provoking article in today’s DT by Ben Wallace. Worth a read for his insights into the mindset of Putin and the Russian military. Apparently the last 250 year’s of Russian failure is all Britain’s fault and they are looking for revenge.
Does he say anything about Labour’s SDR and his expectations and hopes?
No, he relates conversations with Gerasimov on Russian military doctrine ( not elegant) and interpretation of history. Conveys the impression they are a bunch of sad, bitter and twisted leaders with big chips on their shoulder. Sounding an alarm bell, suggesting Russia is coming for the UK as it blames us for the west’s negative view of Russia. Pathetic….but dangerous.
I agree, I read that the other day.
Did not stop Wallace and his cuts one bit though, and I thought he was the best we have had in decades.
Just shows how successful the UK has been when they are so obsessed with us.
As I read elsewhere, “perfidious Albion lives rent free in their minds” I loved that.
I see the govt is inviting the public to contribute to the defence review. Wallace is now a member of the public. I hope he makes a contribution. He has a lot to offer. The govt are obviously hoping to attract input from wise and experienced heads.
Why would they believe that
Good question. Quick answer; geography – you can’t get out much; history – missed out on the Reformations and the Enlightenment; religion – in 1054 inward looking Orthodoxy split from evangelistic Catholicism ( thank the Jesuits for the NHS biddable Philipino nures). In summary – bunker mentality – 1917 set Russia on a despairing psychology in contrast and civil wars in Britain, France, the US, Ireland where low points where people recovered with a sense of hope ( the UK being a bit of an exception with the hope thing ).
Even at this stage, she’s a lovely looking ship.
We desperately need a third batch of 4 though, 8 is totally inadequate.
We need to have 8 operational T26, we need 12 to make that a realistic proposition.
It will be very interesting to see what SDSR25 comes up with…..
Can a round peg be hammered into a square hole, we will see….
“Can a round peg be hammered into a square hole?”
Yeh, of course it can. You just need a big enough persuader..!
Happy to help
Cheers CR
👍 👌 🙃🕳️Btth
Yep I’ve done that 😁
classic Bud! You made my day😁
Yes, lovely looking.
As for further orders and Square pegs, somehow I very much doubt it, there are early signs that this government is a dangerous Woke/Joke.
First thing is the flag… Not allowed crosses. Rainbows??
Sounds like you are unimpressed about the Navy getting 5 x Type 31s in addition?
Scholarship question: if you have top drawer AAW destroyers, ASW frigates and cheap effective global presence and constabulary patrol vessels why would you build a general purpose / patrol frigate?
Effectively to replace the 5 GP T23’s and because they are a heck of a lot cheaper, well that’s what we are told.
Personally I think the T31’s are (now) a pretty decent spec given that they are also quite large, it gives room for future upgrades too.
In the gestation period for T26 there was a lot of debate about how big the ship should be. What we have ended up with is a hull big enough for the Canadians to make it the basis of an AAW destroyer.
Type 31 now looks like it could be a Jack of all trades (except ASW). But I think it’s still fair to call the early versions without Mk41 a patrol frigate.
It was the Govt’s way of maintaining Frigate numbers – once the decision was made to reduce the T26 buy from 13 to 8 something had to fill the gap.As luck would have it if the T31’s are a solution looking for a problem the situation in the Red Sea has provided an ideal problem.
Yes, serendipity.
Afternoon Graham,
While the General purpose T31’s are welcome, especially now they are being considerably beefed up with mk41 silos, they aren’t the specialist AS assets we need.
8 T26 (meaning 4/5 will be routinely available) be sufficient for delausing our SSBN’s and Carrier escort, but nothing else.
We absolutely need 12.
Yes, but for that role do they all need 48 Ceptors, a 5in gun and a gucci mission bay?
That’s exactly the problem.
We made a design able to do anything, expecting it to replace all of our frigates and have now built them so that they will only be doing roles requiring a fraction of their capabilities.
At least if the SSBN gets attacked by the Russian surface fleet we can launch FC/ASW, I suppose…
Well, what’s done is done and cannot be undone. I’m open to the argument that the trend is fewer more capable all round hulls a la Arleigh Burke model. Rather than ‘detune’ the T26 we could enhance it along the lines of the Canadian River class destroyers. But we are on a different trajectory with cheaper GP frigates. My thinking would be for us to build another 4 T26 ( we need more ASW) and enhance the T31s into platforms for Aster 30 or longer range CAMM.
I think the only solutions from here are to enhance T31 or make a “Cruiser” T26 as an interim to T83. We canl turn our Gp frigates into genuine multi role escorts with the addition of a sonar and good AAW (probably CAMM-MR for basic area defence rather than Gucci Aster). Or we can produce an extra batch (3-4) of T26 with the addition of ,say 24 more mk41 replacing the mission bay (retaining 15m boat bays on either side) and a better radar based off T31 fit. This can do NATO standing groups and also provide a high end… Read more »
All above my pay grade really. It’s mesmerising to imagine all the options. Fast moving world. Got to do the defence review first to get a fix on the UK position in the world; strengths, weaknesses, security threats, opportunities etc. Then there’s the politics – how do we see ourselves; how do others see us – 3rd rock from the Sun stuff – Europe, NATO, Global…the folks doing the defence review need the wisdom of Solomon. Then there’s the cyber world. Feel free to call the men in white coats but is it my imagination or did the UK suffered… Read more »
I would like to see a 4 or 5 ships with a follow on order along the lines of the Australian upgrade. That means a Cruiser with both an ASW and AA capability. BTW I would double up on the Power Plant.
Who knows we might decide to then build another 8 to replace the T45s. That would be my ideal; twenty T26’s and T26 A’s.
Plus the planned 5 T31’s and another 5 T31’s or T32’s. Making an escort fleet of 30. With that you can remain in control of our marine responsibilities.
Honestly if anyone on here just blindly shouts out “we need her now so why is it taking so long”, or “BAe and its workers should pull their fingers out” just consider these little facts. The last T45 was HMS Duncan and she was launched at Govan the old fashioned in 2010, at that point she was 60% complete. Now that 60% was extremely good, it was the result of a very high level of pre outfitting and lockout at the block build stage combined with some very skilled shipbuilding at Govan. For the real evidence of what I have… Read more »
👌
Exactly and it’ll probably have taken 13 years to build and enter service which is shocking.
Maybe 13 years is not so bad? I worked on the CR2 Life Extension Programme in 2016 – we will get all the CR3s after 14 years from project launch ie by end of 2030 – and that is just an upgrade programme not a ‘build from scratch’.
13 years is bad in comparison to Queen Elizabeth’s build to service time and given the dire state of the remaining T23’s, another 6 years will leave a large hole in numbers.
So yes, I reckon it is bad.
Let’s hope I’m wrong about 2030 and that the programme will pick up speed.
It’s bloody slow because the Treasury refuses to pay for it to be any faster. It’s certainly running up the total bill even though the annual costs are less.
The Treasury under Brown did exactly the same for the CVF and Astute contracts and wasted billions in the process according to the NAO. In fact one additional submarine could have been built using the money on the Asute contract that was wasted according to the parliamentary defence committee.
Good job we never got another Astute, we’re running out of dockside space. 👀
Good post. One for me to remember.
Only 65% is a bit disappointing … would be interesting to have a list of the work still outstanding.
Hopefully when the remaining 6 are built in the new hall the completion level will be much higher than 65% before they load them out , otherwise it defeats the purpose of spending the money to make it more efficient and save time . Also how do they propose to use the drydocks at Scotstoun if 2 ships are loaded out within say a six month period . How does that affect completions .