HMS Venturer announced on Twitter that it has been officially twinned with the County of Essex, marking the first time this maritime county has been affiliated with a Royal Navy warship.
HMS Venturer is the lead ship of the Type 31 frigate-class currently under construction for the Royal Navy and the seventh vessel named HMS Venturer.
The tweet shared:
“Venturer is ‘twinned’ with the County of Essex, the first time this maritime county has been affiliated with an RN warship. We met with Councillors and the @Essex_LL in the County Council Chambers to take our first steps in building this relationship @CdreRBellfield @Swatchway.”
Venturer is ‘twinned’ with the County of Essex, the first time this maritime county has been affiliated with an RN warship. We met with Councillors and the @Essex_LL in the County Council Chambers to take our first steps in building this relationship @CdreRBellfield @Swatchway pic.twitter.com/7Zl8Zdxh86
— HMSVenturer (@HMSVenturerRN) June 28, 2024
The affiliation aims to strengthen ties between HMS Venturer and the Essex community, fostering mutual support and engagement. Councillors and the Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, Jennifer Tolhurst, participated in the initial meeting, held at the County Council Chambers, to establish the foundation of this new partnership.
The frigate is more than two years into her construction with the hull and much of the superstructure complete in a cavernous, state-of-the-art assembly facility where defence firm Babcock is building all five ships in the Type 31 Inspiration class under contract with the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support.
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How wonderful.
But…..she is late…..going on very late?
So it would be nice to see her in the water.
However, in none too suprised given the near zero level of pre outfitting of modules. As I and many others have commented both on here and NL.
I just hope the follow ons have the modules proper pre outfitted….
Hopefully there is another good reason such as Mk41….that of itself would justify a reasonable delay.
From what I’ve read there’s easy access throughout the ship to allow for alot of fitting out to be done at a later point. But I think inevitably Babcocks timelines were ambitious, it’ll still be alot faster than waiting for a last 5 T26s but they’ve got alot to learn I imagine.
I don’t think we’ll see Mk41 on ship 1 or 2, sounds like it’ll be part of CIP
But she isn’t being built out of modules so why would they be pre outfitted.
mk41 wouldn’t be a delay as they have been in the design from the start.
Wikipedia now lists her as being armed with 32 Mk 41 VLS, but whether or not she’ll enter service with them fitted is questionable? Suspect she might have NSM as there is certainly no real effort being made to fit them to other RN vessels at present?
The way things are going she be luvky to have them fitted at all.
No reason why they won’t be fitted, though probably not upon launch and trials.
Though the quantity may not be a full set of 32.
Would also point out there is no rush to get mk41 because we have no weapons for it currently.
But…..most missiles are Mk41 compatible……and it takes longer to fit the silos than acquire missiles….
So I’d be inclined to get the physical silos fitted even if some of the details are left for a bit….
Sure, but it’s not part of the original contract and especially in HMS Venturers case, it was built for a sea ceptor silo, though there’s empty space for mk41 cells, but it will have to be modified in some regard to take them.
It wasn’t part of the original fixed scope/price contract.
However, Babcock did go back to the table re COVID and inflation costs and there was an agreement so maybe, just maybe……
I don’t think it’s an Empty space? Isn’t it filled in the original version with dedicated CAMM launchers.
Camm wouldnt take up the whole space but yes i assume Camm is hanging out in the mk41 enclosure. But obviously if you removed that installation there would be space.
All the T31 have the foundations and services for Mk41. The Sea Ceptor silo was just ‘squatting’ in this space. There are no big modifications needed just a bigger hole in the deck.
If it was that easy then why wouldnt they do it during build. It appears there will be a bit more to it then just removing sea ceptor and cutting a hole.
No reason BUT if they’re not fitted now when? Five years, ten ?
Quite possibly. We need Frigate hulls more than anything right now. The 24 sea ceptors are sufficient enough for their GP role and to at least make up for the crumbling T23s.
Agree the Frigate hulls and T23 comment. T31 should provide more presence and availability than the same number of T23s. Is the 12 vs 24 Sea Ceptors discussion resolved? I must have missed that.
Ill have to have another look but i swear i saw an illustration with it at some point, theres certainly room for that, would at least be a marginally acceptable minimum till mk41.
The latest announcement was that the class will get a 32 cell Mk41 sysytem for various missile fits. As I understand it the seperate SeaCeptor unit has gone.
Not initially, the first two will only get Sea Ceptor. Mk. 41 was not in the original contract.
The problem is that the existing plan is for them to have 32 cell mk41 silos with 6/8 of them taking quad packed SeaCeptor. As things stand no t41–no Seaceptor. Without the VLS silos they are a big patrol boat with a pop gun and helo.
If they don’t have mk41 then they may just have the dedicated Camm cells that the T23 and T26 have/will have.
They may but as I said the current plan isn’t for that. If the SeaCeptor CAMM cells are fitted we will probably never see them with T41., as I can’t see the next government rushing to spend money on retrofitting any time soon if ever.
Every chance they do walk back on the Mk41 plan, or the first 2 ships dont get them for a few years. But i have read a comment from HMS Venturer stating theyll initially be fitted with sea ceptor.
Sea Ceptor was in the original build contract.
There are no buy news concerning MK41 for Type 31 and they probably would have appeared in FMS (Foreign Military Sales) docs.
Has there been any for Type 26, but they’re not just going to silently go back on what they said, plus if it’s in an insertion period after initial comissioning then there’s still 4-5 years
From a cursory search it seems there was a BAE order to Lockheed in 2018.
Firstly they don’t need to be bought through the FMS system and secondly there is a reporting threshold for FMS sales anyway so small addon batches of launchers might go unreported.
We need the next government to get on and order batch 2 of the type 31s, type 32, more offshore surveillance and protection ships and another 2-4 type 26 frigates. Enough with the twaddle we are by every admission in a pre war era. It’s time we rearmed.
We may or may not be in a pre war era but we are certainly in the second cold war and we need to re arm, if we do too little too late then that gives the highest risk of there being another major war. Much better to have another 40 year cold war than world war three.
Agree we need to be spending closer to 5% which is what the west spent last time to ensure we had the deterrent to prevent the Cold War going to the hot war…what people need to really get their minds around is yes 5% or GDP on defence will hurt, but not doing so will almost guarantee a world war within a decade and that could cost us almost everything at worst and shatter our economy for a generation at best.
Let’s not pretend labour is going to come in swinging with a budget increase anytime soon. Best we can hope for is they solve the personnel crisis so we can actually use the ships we have.
Any additional Frigates is either a project for next decades budget or none at all
Perhaps building a larger fleet would encourage more people to join, why join something that has been consistently shrinking over decades, you would not think it would be good idea from a normal business sense. I think the best way to tempt people into believing that joining the RN is a decent option is to grow and maintain a solid fleet, not one that has been stripped of numbers by constant budget cuts and usually have the tag line fitted for but not with. The best thing would be is set defence budget to 3/4% via the monarch and take… Read more »
We cant just build ships and hope people come, weve got enough ships sitting alongside as is. That should be the priority, not getting more shiny toys.
Also lol, i love the monarchy but they have absolutely zero power to do anything with the budget.
I understand they have zero power in setting defence budget mate, but with defence being really important at the moment it may be a better solution to take it out of the political ping pong of changing the PM or now seems like a different party. I know it ain’t never gonna happen but just saying my opinion.
I don’t think even Farage, would agree to a Monarch setting the defence budget!
It’s called absolute Monarchy!
I think Iran has something similar to your idea, of some power beyond general government, its called the Guardian Council, drawn up from the clergy.
Any decision on a batch 2 of T31, will have to wait until next year after completion of SDSR 2025. Highly likely, to see 2-4 more T26s!
How are we more likely to see any more frigates when there’s no funding for any shipbuilding programs right now.
I agree there won’t be much funding for more T26’s for now. It would be good if SDSR25 recommends one more T26?
I notice a spelling error in my previous post, which should of meant unlikely. My apologies!
Ah, that makes more sense.
You’re right even 1 or 2 more vessels would make a difference, I hope the SDSR is made up of more than “efficiencies”
My post should of read “Highly unlikely, to see 2-4 more T26s!”
A spell check error?
I’v ga several folk posr about my comments so if you don’t mind I’ll answer the question you have raised in one go. It’s not the missiles that are being talked about. It’s their launch system The original project plan was to have 12/24 CAMM launchers. However in May 2023 and confirmed in may 2024 the FSL announced and then confirmed that the T31 is to have a 32 cell MK41 system for Seaceptor and anti ship and land attack missiles. I don’t know where this story came from but the point I am trying to make if the class… Read more »