HMS Cardiff – the second out of eight Type 26 frigates being commissioned – will soon enter the water for the first time
BAE Systems previously confirmed the news when publishing its financial accounts.
The company reported a 9% increase in sales, totalling £25.3 billion, and an 8% rise in operating profit to £2.6 billion for the period ending December 31. Alongside these financial milestones, BAE Systems noted expansion in its order book, which now stands at £58 billion, up £9.1 billion from the previous year.
Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems Chief Executive, shared his enthusiasm for the company’s performance over the past year:
“We’ve delivered a strong operational and financial performance in 2023 and I’m extremely proud of the way our people have delivered cutting-edge equipment and services to our customers, working together with partners across our supply chain. Our performance, combined with our global footprint and record order intake, means we’re well-positioned for sustained growth in the coming years. We’ll keep driving the business forward, investing in new technologies, facilities and our people. This will help us deliver on our order backlog and help ensure our government customers stay ahead in an uncertain world, whilst delivering increased value to our shareholders and the communities where we operate.”
On HMS Cardiff, the report states:
“The UK Type 26 programme continues and construction is underway on the first four City Class Type 26 frigates, with a focus on skilled and experienced resource availability, including within the supply chain. HMS Glasgow is progressing through the key stages of outfit, test and commissioning, while HMS Cardiff is being prepared to enter the water for the first time in 2024. Following steel cut in June 2021, HMS Belfast continues steelwork construction, while the initial unit construction for HMS Birmingham began in April and is well underway.”
On the new shipbuilding hall, the report states:
“We continue investing in our people and facilities to better enable us to deliver on our customer commitments and secure the long-term future for complex shipbuilding in Glasgow. Construction of a new ship assembly hall in Govan is well underway, and the new Applied Shipbuilding Academy in Scotstoun is planned to open in 2024.”
We keep hearing she’s due to enter the water this year! They really need to get a move on and speed up the build times on these ships!
We had this news in February, so I’m not sure what prompted the article. However, it’s only been 18 months since Glasgow floated off, and Cardiff was started two years after Glasgow. Anything before December represents a speeding up.
It’s Venturer we need to pick up the pace.
Confirming the timeline…..that COVID slippage has been recovered?
Perhaps, but what source is the confirmation? All references in the article are to the accounts being published, which was what prompted the February article.
I drew three tarot cards which didn’t seem to want to discuss Cardiff specifically but told me all will be very well in the end with the overall build schedules at Govan.
The Star, which is a card of hope and positivity. The eight pointed star speaks of the direction and focus towards a goal. Also renewed optimism and faith after hardship.
The three of pentacles, Pentacles are the suit of business, health and wealth. The three is the card of patronage and suggests more money will be coming to this line of work. This could be more money spent to speed up or possibly the getting Norwegian contract.
The ten of pentacles. This is the ultimate happy-ever-after card for business. It speaks to legacy and the next generation. This build series will positively affect Govan for generations to come.
So now you know. I quoted my source and you can figure out for yourself exactly how much reliance you want to put on it. 😃
George being invited there for an eyeball?
As he has been invited a few times he should be able to guesstimate the progress level?
I’m afraid my ball has gone cloudy and I didn’t check the tea leaves….
Geez that was a long drawn out ‘joke’, Birmingham will be ready to float sooner than reading all of that.
The Tarot may have the last laugh.
It will be interesting to see when Sheffield (no5) has 1st Steel cut !
So far it’s been pretty well a 2 year gap with Birmingham (no4) being the change over build between old and new process.
BAe have been very Bullish about the efficiencies the new hall and steelwork facilities give them, now they have a chance to prove it.
IMHO It will all come down to the need to keep continuity of work and that hinges on extra orders.
If MOD orders more T26 or Norway does then it will have to speed up to a 12/15 month gap, if not then it’s stay at 2 years and wait for T83.
If Sheffield starts in q3 or 4 2024 then we will get a hint as to what is going on.
I’d actually bet on a simultaneous occurrence Cardiff leaves on the barge and 1st Steel cut on the same day (November would be nice).
Hms Cardiff is due to be floated into the water in July or August.
Navy Lookout had August in a tweet last month.
Paul42 I don’t think you fully understand what’s involved in building these ships to the standard that the Royal Navy requires and for the safety of their crews ! Any speeding up in the program at this stage of an 8 ship build could prove to actually have the schedule fall behind ! This like the Type 45 contract and also even further back with Type 23 are built to the to the timeframe that the Royal Navy request , tbe program actually does quicken to and extent as we hit around the third ship from “lessons learned “ from the previous and also plan for potential problems arising from equipment suppliers and also equipment failures which are in some cases not found until the ship is undergoing sea trial !
I hope this maybe shed a bit of light towards your comment ?
Everyone talks about how UK MOD isn’t BAE’s largest customer anymore….
£58Bn pipeline.
T26, Astute, Successor are a very large % of that before getting anywhere near Typhoon or AUKUS…..before making shells flat out…..
U.K. MOD isn’t BAe’s single largest customer anymore that is now the US Department of Defence. I think it’s 6th biggest followed by a whole load of Chinese companies 🤷🏼♂️
when you say a whole load of Chinese companies…you can and should change that statement out for the Chinese communist party…all Chinese companies answer to the CCP no matter the seaming ownership model.
I just find it a bit odd that any are there at all.
Indeed,
All I’m saying is that these orders are a very significant part of BAe’s order book.
6th biggest in US not U.K. just to clarify.
You can see where its future lies.
It’s got its fingers in lots of Pies and is doing rather well in all of them ! So glad I bought some shares back in 2018 and I suspect they will keep going up for a few years yet.
There’s good capital growth in the shares but income from dividends is pretty low I think its around 2% ish so you can get more putting your money in the bank.
So I hope the share price grows more, but watch out for capital gains tax if you eligible, thats likley to be a target for the next government!!!
Could be good to crystalise some gains before the CGT rates go up. Market may dip post election whilst they wait for news from the new government so you may be able to sell some then jump back in a bit lower and pay less CGT. But don’t take that as financial advise 😀
Hopefully sooner than later, just incase the SNP remains in power because if they do they have promised independence, if she is floating be a lot easier to move her south of the border to complete so she can’t be held hostage by the SNP to gain better conditions….
SNP have as much chance up here as the lib dems down there, no chance.
Post GE the SNP representation in Westminster will probably be in single figures. It’s an odd paradox that FPTP results in X numbers of MPs but PR in XXX due to transferable votes.
But in either system SNP are in deep trouble, next May could just be a Bloodbath if a new U.K. Government can shake some life into the economy.
Yes one of the very interesting things about this election will be what the vote share and number of MPs will be for the smaller parties..it’s very possible we may see a political shift in the UK…we almost had it in 2010..but the lib dem leadership squander it on a gamble for a vote on PR that was to early (most people forget that the tuition fee “shot in the head” was to purchase a referendum on PR).
But possible big political shifts we may see over the next five years as a result of this election.
likely or possible ( 50% chance or more)
1) essentially the return of the SNP to a small minority party of protest…I honestly think if they drop to say 20-30 MPs ( and loss their place as third party) two years of a reasonable Labour government that works for Scotland will see the SNP out of holyrood and put away one of the biggest risks to our nation.
2) the return of the Lib Dem’s as a meaningful third party ( they are potentially looking at 30-40 seats as a realistic outcome. This would be impactful in a future election ( 2-3 terms away, not now as we are likely to see a big Labour majority) as means there is an actual nation wide third party that could form a coalition ( no one could ever form a coalition with the SNP as they want to see the end of the nation).
3) conservatives not in a position to be in power for up to 3 terms…you really need at least a 2 term government to make a difference to a nation.
4) the reform party actually becoming a meaningful parliamentary party..if they do get a couple of seats they join the greens as becoming a meaningful party…once you have seats in parliament you have a voice and more power in local elections..if you can control a few councils..you get a machine that can start to keep and win parliamentary seats…we would then have an actual far right party in the political mix ( I’m not talking fascists, but as right wing as a Democratic Party can be)..this is very likely to have a future impact on the Conservative Party as it will become less of a broad church if the far right have a different home….just like the far left have another home in the Green Party.
So we could be entering an age in which we have a proper nationally mandated 3rd party to support a future coalition that is profoundly centrist in its beliefs as well as a far right minority party ( reform ) and a far left minority party ( green) all as a supporting backdrop for the to traditional Center right and Center left parties…
rare ( less the 10% chance to no chance)
1) the Conservative Party collapses to 60+ seats and risk becoming the third party ( this is very unlikely)
2) the Lib Dem’s bet 60+ seats and become the second party ( the opposition) this a rare event ( almost impossible)
3) the reform party get a significant number of seats 10-20 and become a major player in future races to become the third party, this would have profound consequences as it would mean the conservatives would struggle to ever win a majority on their own again( almost impossible
4) Greens see a surge and gain 10-20 seats, becoming a a major player in future races to become the third party..this could then impact on labours chances to get majorities in future elections…
these are each profoundly unlikely outcomes..but if you did see a couple of these occurring, you could see a road to a massive paradigm shift in Uk politics from a first past the post two party system to a European rainbow politics model..and an inevitable road to PR…unlikely as hell..but I’m starting to get a bit of a feeling that the fall of the conservatives is going to be hard..and when one of the major parties falls hard after a long time in government you get possibilities on the board.
The vote back in 2010 wasn’t actually for PR, but a terrible compromise AV. The Tories have been abysmal at most things, but they excelled at stitching up their LD partners.
I see Putin continues to threaten the west with nuclear or conventional strikes for beginning to permit use of western supplied weapons for strikes into Russia.
He wants UKR to only fight with both hands nehind its back, pinned down & tied to a chair so she can be beaten senseless. The shame of the west has been limiting UKR in defending herself, for far too long.
Yes I forgot it was AV, I still cannot believe the mistake the Lib Dem’s made.
Agree Russia Is going to keep sabre rattling..I thought the “we will supply other people with missiles to attack the west” was a bit desperate considering they are presently buying supplies or missiles from North Korea and Iran….and have been supply Iran with tec for a long time… what are they going to give the extremists anti ship ballistic missiles….they aready have them.
I see reform are promising no income tax for NHS workers, thats quite a lot of extra cash in their hands.
Couple of good things in there but not sure about the COVID enquiry, bit tin foil hat.
You won’t see right wing politics feature anymore in the UK, the nation has switch massively to left of centre progressive politics, big example is immigration, its now much more excepted that we will have high migration.
Another example is how far the Tories have moved to the centre but still can’t garner much support.
We also have more people dependent on the state up from 47% a few years ago to 53% which means the a majority of the population will look to parties who will bolster the state not reduce it. And of course Labour will swell the number of state dependents further through nationalisation and bigger government.
During the next term well see the 16 years allowed to vote and EU citizens voting so this will further increase the left of centre voting population. We have growing % of the population that want the government more embedded in their lives, and reducing their accountabilty and responsibilty.
Ironically its the Tories shift left that has been their undoing, allowing more people to take from the system than put in isn’t a typical conservative policy but they have promoted it to the point where they cannot reverse it, and the threat of reversing will inevitably mean larger % votes for Labour.
If the Tories do bounce back it will be becuase they shift more the to the left not the right. Or there’s a fundamental reset, which would mean we’ve something catostophic has happened.
To be honest in not against some of the Reform healthcare ideas although I think they are a bit naive.
The most important reform is that I agree the NHS needs to be funded by a European model as its more focused on getting the correct level of payment for what is purchased…instead of what we have at preset which is government deciding what they will pay..which is essentially impossible for any system to really work .
So yes we should have a social insurance based system…but it does mean that as a nation we will pay 20-40% more per year. The two clear systems that work are France and Germany…France is what I would call Ford level healthcare…Germany is a bit more premium and better. But per person France pays £3700 per person per year, we pay £3000…and that has been the case for 75 years ( so we have vast built in underfunded issues..10billion in repairs and around 200,000 clinicians that need training..) Germany pays around 40% more per person than we do at around £5000 per person….and that’s set by an independent body that decides how much it costs to buy what Germany needs.
Around income tax not being payed..by healthcare workers…I would say not to be honest..I personally think a 20%+ instant pay rise is too much. NHS pay should be directly related to market forces in the workforce…the issue is when government simply stops paying pay rises because of government spending…but most of our workforces issues relate to two issues:
1) lack of funding for training posts…we simply will not pay for the cost of training the required strategic workforce…
2) working conditions…we end up burning our staff out…essentially you can only work in an overheating system for so long..( remembering an overheated system means you go into work and watch people suffer and die unessisarly..and you can only do that for so long).
so to be honest…pay is an issue because of the 5 years of zero pay increase and years of only 1%..when private sector wages went up a lot more. But it’s not the main issue ( the nursing union did not vote to agree the pay rise last year, infact we never accepted it…we simply decided we would stop striking).
The NHS contract thing is very interesting, but I’m not sure what they mean by that…the big issue the NHS is presently struggling with is we are being to find it difficult to find contractors as we underpay and private providers are either dropping out the market, closing or failing to provide the required services…and private provision is fundamentally important to the NHS…remember there is no such thing as an organisation called the NHS..it’s just 40,000 different organisations with contracts to provide services..with probably 80% of them being private sector providers.
I am glad they are busy with the new Building Hall. The faster they build them the more efficient cost wise. I dont see how where they are going to assemble Belfast. Can they move it from the old build hall to the new or will they assemble it on the hard standing when Cardiff move out of the way? Seems like the best option. Then they could build the Norwegian ships in the old sheds while all the RN work is in the New Shed. 3 ships on build at once would be quite something.
Then their might be a back up at fitting out down river.
I don’t think they’d have enough staff to have 3 going at once. And the current assembly method is very inefficient. Could probably go just as fast using the new hall to its full ability. But that’ll only happen if there’s guaranteed future orders.
It is, probably, more hybrid.
Consolidation of ‘super blocks’ in the existing sheds then trundle them over to the new sheds…
I’ve studied the pictures till I’m blue in the face but I just don’t see enough space at the front of the Hall to trundle super blocks around.
Only way I can see it being done is by using the barge as a pivot, which might not be such a bad idea.
To be fair they should be able to get a fairly good drumbeat going 15 months sounds about right.
OT I see Portsmouth HMS Warrior webcam is finally repaired & back running. Supposed to have been fixed April but out throughout May. Glad to have it back online.
Didn’t realise there was one, I will check that out as I have a loose family connection to it.
any updates available about venturers progress?
George was in the Rosyth hall a couple of weeks ago, but not allowed to take any pictures and he hasn’t posted anything about progress.
That’s not all that odd as he is a journalist and he is dependant on good will, so he may well be embargoed until Babcock say so. 🤞🏻
How long will it be in the water before it breaks down???
At least two years after floating off, because the the first thing they’ll do is send it back up the Clyde to Scotstoun for fitting out. It won’t go to shipbuilders’ trials before 2027 and it won’t be able to break down before that, at least not so as you’d notice. [Any sabotaged cabling notwithstanding.]
The last builds were the T45 and their propulsion was put through full power tests whilst still in Drydock. They fitted paddle wheels instead of props and spun them up, it worked very well as they could de snag before Sea Trials. There are photos taken by BAe whilst they did it, just looks like the T45 was in a massive Jacuzzi.
Main issue was they couldn’t simulate hot and dry conditions 🤷🏼♂️
As the build hall is wide enough for two T26s to be built in parallel. Could this help the case for a Norwegian bid? Or has the build schedule already take this into account with the subsequent ships after Cardiff?
This is an urgent no news alert. This is slow progress indeed.
When was Glasgow launched? My guess is its going to be 2 years follow on by the time Cardiff is launched. 20 years to get the whole class in the water. and not even all in commission. So they will be obsolete by then.
The first three were deliberately slow-paced by the Cameron and May governments. It was more important to them how much they paid during their own governments than all the extra it would cost the country during subsequent government. The effect on our military capability and the signals it was sending to Russia didn’t even enter into the equation.