In response to a parliamentary inquiry from Mark Francois, Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the submarine shiplift at HMNB Clyde is currently undergoing scheduled routine maintenance and upgrade work.
This shiplift plays a critical role in the servicing and repair of the UK’s fleet of submarines, including its Vanguard class vessels.
Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, provided the following response:
“The shiplift at HMNB Clyde is undergoing scheduled routine maintenance and upgrade work. Costs for key assets in the naval base are included in the routine maintenance contract with Babcock. It would not be appropriate to provide detailed availability of critical infrastructure assets due to operational sensitivities.”
While no specific timeline or cost details were provided due to the sensitive nature of the work, this follows the Ministry’s broader efforts to ensure the base’s infrastructure remains fit for purpose in supporting the UK’s strategic naval capabilities.
The shiplift, which handles vital maintenance tasks, is essential to the operational readiness of Faslane’s submarine fleet. The facility is used to lift vessels out of the water for maintenance, repair, or transfer to a dry dock.
Unlike traditional dry docks where water is drained to expose a ship’s hull, a shiplift raises the entire vessel vertically using a platform, supported by a system of cables or hydraulic mechanisms. Once lifted, the ship can be worked on. This method is particularly useful for submarines and large vessels, enabling more efficient use of dockyard space and facilitating complex maintenance tasks without needing a full dry dock.
The 30-year-old shiplift has been unavailable for at least some of the time during the last few years, you can learn more about it at the ever excellent NavyLookout website.
“It would not be appropriate to provide detailed availability of critical infrastructure assets due to embarrassement” more believable
Sounds to me like it just needs a little TLC. Many of the Dry Docks and associated infrastructure seem to have been receiving TLC lately. We have a new facility for building T26 being completed soon. We seem to be moving into a phase where we are actively building and repairing. Not sure what there is to be embarrased about.
Having zero SSN’s available for a start.
Actually Astute is at sea (1) and Anson has just got back from sea trials (2). Nothing wrong with her that I am aware of which makes her available. Agamemnon was just launched so a little while before that is ready but the rest who are waiting for work to be done arrived under their own steam and could I’m sure go out again under their own steam. Just because they are awaiting work doesn’t mean they are dead.
Is there a lot of work that requires being out of the water often? With most things being inside the hull I wondered.
Hull valves are a big one.
We could really do with 2 of them.
Exactly. Logistics, industrial capacity and redundancy in infrastructure win wars . How complex/expensive would it be to build a 2nd one? I saw something about floating docks too a while ago.
The simple answer to that is building a 2nd one would be very expensive. The last was part of the upgrade for Trident cost £1.7 billion and one was the largest and most technically challenging civil engineering project ever carried out in the U.K. till the Chunnel !
It has to be stable, able to survive a major Earth Quake and is built over open water with over 800 50m stainless steel piles driven into the bedrock of the seabed.
Digging a conventional dock at Faslane would probably cost even more due to the bedrock being granite. So a couple of floating docks would be best !
👍👍 (In conjunction w/ the completion of HMNB Devonport drydock renovations.)
Thanks for these finer details.
Blimey, what a place, what an asset.
Simple reason I know about it is because the piling was done by Cementation Ltd, 3 members of my family worked on it. Which is pretty funny as 2 of us were involved with building parts of the boats to go in their Garage.
What no one seems to be picking up in the press is this isn’t just maintenance it’s a massive upgrade for Dreadnought as they longer and heavier.
Good Morning 😎
Hmm…the blokes down at the Admiralty appear to be guilty of the crime of proactive project planning and execution, once again. 😳😉
would you not have 2 shiplifts? common sense really!