The Ministry of Defence has provided an update on the planned out of service dates for Royal Navy ships, following a written question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty.
The response from Maria Eagle, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, clarified that while specific dates for individual ships are not released for operational security reasons, the Navy does provide dates by class.
According to Eagle, the Royal Navy constantly reviews the out of service dates to ensure maximum availability for operational tasking. This approach allows flexibility in managing the fleet’s readiness while maintaining security.
“For operational security reasons, the Royal Navy does not release the out of service dates of individual platforms,” stated the Minister.
Dates by Ship Class
The following list details the planned out of service dates for various classes of Royal Navy ships:
- Queen Elizabeth Class (Aircraft Carriers): 2069
- Albion Class (Amphibious Assault Ships): 2025
- Daring Class (Type 45 Destroyers): 2038
- Duke Class (Type 23 Frigates): 2035
- Wave Class (Tanker Ships): 2025
- Tide Class (Fleet Tankers): 2040
- Bay Class (Landing Ship Dock): 2034
- Fort Class (Replenishment Ships): 2028
- Hunt Class (Mine Countermeasure Vessels): 2031
- Sandown Class (Mine Countermeasure Vessels): 2025
- River Class (Offshore Patrol Vessels):
- Batch 1: 2028
- Batch 2: 2040
The future
The Royal Navy is currently undergoing a comprehensive modernisation programme, with several advanced warships and submarines in various stages of construction and planning. The Type 26 frigates, also known as the Global Combat Ships, are designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and multi-mission operations. Eight ships are planned, with the first vessel, HMS Glasgow, already launched. Subsequent ships, including HMS Cardiff and HMS Belfast, are under construction. These frigates feature a stealth design, vertical launch missile systems, and a mission bay for modular payloads, along with hangars to accommodate helicopters and drones.
The Type 31 frigates, also known as the Inspiration class, are intended for general-purpose missions and global deployment. Five of these vessels are being constructed at the Rosyth shipyard, with entry into service expected to begin in 2027.
The Royal Navy is also developing future surface combatants, including the conceptual Type 32 frigates and the Type 83 destroyers. The Type 32 frigates are being designed to support autonomous systems and protect territorial waters, with an emphasis on modularity. These ships are currently in the concept phase. The Type 83 destroyers are intended to succeed the Type 45 class, focusing on advanced air-defence capabilities, including potential ballistic missile defence. These destroyers are in the design and development phase, with an anticipated service entry in the late 2030s.
In addition to surface combatants, the Royal Navy is expanding its support and amphibious capabilities. The Multi-Role Strike Ships (MRSS) will provide amphibious warfare, humanitarian assistance, and logistics support. Up to six ships are planned, with the program currently approved and procurement processes underway.
The Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships are designed to resupply naval vessels with ammunition, food, and other supplies at sea, particularly in support of carrier strike groups. Three ships are planned, with construction expected to begin in 2025 and the first ship anticipated to enter service by 2031.
Type 45 is only 3 years after the Type 23. I would have though the Type 45 would last a bit longer.
I think they are being hopelessly optimistic about 23s lasting that long – Jonathan wrote an excellent reply the other day as to why it was BS.
Type 45 will almost certainly have their lives extended. No way we’re getting it’s replacement in just over 10 years.
Certainly if the T26 timescales are anything to go by. I fear the new government hasn’t learnt the lessons from the old one and is being far to laissez-faire when it comes to developing replacements.
A lot of vessels and programmes are going to have to be ordered or started over the next decade:
– Orders for SSN AUKUS
– MRSS
– T83
– Tide-class replacement
– New MCM motherships
– Replacement for HMS Scott and Endurance
– B1 and eventual B2 replacement
Where is the urgency with anything?
It’s less an urgency thing, and more of a budget thing. Ordering something costs money, so the RN can’t order it until the funding is free for it.
SSN Aukus won’t be ordered for a while yet as the whole Dreadnought program needs to run first.
MRSS won’t be ordered for a while yet until FSS is under way.
B1’s replacements are the B2’s, so no replacement will be ordered there.
T83 again won’t be ordered for a while due to T-26 taking up that production line.
Announcement in 2060s: “Carrier lives will be extended to 2080” (due to them not having started the procurement process for whatever replacements we will need in those days)
They be home ported in Rio de Janeiro well before that date…
Depressing to see all the 2025 dates – particularly given current world events.
2038 for the Daring Class (Type 45 Destroyers) is crazy. There is no chance that more than one T83 will be in service by then. Another big capability gap looming.
De facto confirmation that the last Sandown, Bangor, will decommission this year. That will leave the 9th Mine Countermeasures Squadron in Bahrain with just one MCMV left – Middleton. With no prospect of any reinforcements, that is surely the end of the line for the squadron.
Finally, we are running out of time to replace the three River B1s by 2028. SDR2025 (what a wonderful and far sighted document that it going to be, the three lead reviewers having in just 11 months considered in-depth every single defence and security the problems that the UK faces and identified a solution, all within a budget of just 2.5% of GDP!) will presumably make a firm recommendation and rapidly implementable decision on how this will be done. Most probably this will involve pulling Spey and Tamar back to UK waters and claiming that a third OPV is no longer needed because of AI, UAS and space based surveillance systems.
Yes
Dear me
This class are just starting to be really used after propulsion problems
HMS Daring is still not back in service after how many years – nearly 10?
Fantastic radars Good looking and capable if they were fully armed
Pathetic retiring them so quickly
Is there something we don’t know?
That’s in 13 years, by then they’ll have been in service about 30 years
T45s have barely been used – no doubt be sold to Brazil (even as they cosy up to Putin!) – MoD really is filled with cretins
This is fantastic news, once again the UK leads the World like no other nation.
“Away all boats”.
Honestly you can probably knock 5 years off the T23, HMS Kent is probably the final tester if we hear this year or next year that she is beyond economic refit then essentially the whole class is undoubtedly done by 2030.
In reality 4 out of the last 4 to hit Kent’s stage post lifex got decommissioned if Kent goes the same way that’s five out of five.
I would also expect to see the type T45 to be around a lot longer than 2038, these ships had a designed life of 25 years and in reality have been very very lightly used. When you consider the T23 had a design life of 18 years and some will have been thrashed by the RN for 35+ years, I cannot see the RN getting less than 35 years out of these large well built lightly used hulls.. which means the mid to late 2040s.. one of the other reasons I expect to see this is I think everyone pretty much knows that the RN needed 10 AAW destroyers and dropping to 6 even in peacetime was a risk… now it’s a disaster keeping the T45s running into the mid 2045s would be a low capital cost option to get a lot more RN destroyers in service..as they essentially backstop and support the newer T83.
I’m more optimistic than you, but I 100% agree that Kent is the bellwether. I think Richmond will be for the chop next year and Lancaster too if it doesn’t go this year, but Kent really should make it through refit if we are to stand a chance to keep three T23s operational into the 2030s.
The Navy need to plan this stuff properly and officially. Everybody knows the T45s will have to be extended because there’s no replacement due before the late 2030s and we won’t get six or more of those coming in the same year! So why not plan for the Lifex and ask the question, what can we do to bolster air defence during the mid 2030s when the destroyers are being refit? I’d order new ASW T31s and start converting the first batch to air defence from 2033 onward.
Taking their heads out of the sand in May 2025 would be a good start to planning.
What is even more alarming is the Ft Victoria OOS date – 2028!
We aren’t getting it’s replacement (FSSS) until 2033/34. So 5-6 years without a dedicated stores support ship for the carriers, unbelievable……
At that point the people saying the RN is no longer a true blue water navy would start to have a point. The miss management of ship ordering between 2010 and now has been very significant.. even now it seems slow and lacking in “we must”..
Ft Vic has been inactive since 2023. You could even make the argument that the gap in organic blue-water capability will last a decade.
But don’t you still have one of the T45 basically mothballed? As in not needed…
Basically when you don’t want to have missions you don’t need the ships.
Same sort of argument as well we don’t have a crew.
The problem with the armed forces is that if you refuse to engage in the imaginative and somewhat speculative process of risk management and simply say
“we are not at war and don’t want to go to war so why bother spending any money”
it’s a pretty powerful argument to people who refuse to see or consider esoteric risk.. just look at Ireland… saved untold billions and completely got away with it.
So there is a massively powerful argument to just cut a bit more and cut a bit more..
The trouble is the primary function of the armed forces for a modern democracy is not really to fight a war but to act as a deterrent to war.. so the more people fall for the easy argument above the more and more likely it is they will end up in a war with a catastrophic cost.
Yes. Worse still, whilst it’s true the primary function of our armed forces in time of peace is as a deterrent, we can’t equate modern democracies with time of peace. That’s mostly been coincidence. If you read back about the rise of Nazi Germany there were a lot of contenporary comments about how world war couldn’t happen again in a modern democracy. If a peer war starts, the primary function of the military will change and that’s not the same as exercising a secondary function like presence or constabulary for the navy. Because it will be the whole of society at risk of destruction across much of the globe. It’s hard to put into words the difference in mindset that will engender when it sinks in, and it makes me ill just to think about it.
I’m irresistably drawn to the phrase lions led by donkeys, just as the donkeys are irresistable drawn to cuts.
Out of service date will be brought forward. Ships commissioned delayed. Lack of a credible navy for years again. This is the norm now
My biggest concern at the moment is how many ships do we actually need to launch a year to keep the current navy size (which is very small) compared to what we are launching. If we want a navy of 30 ships and have designed lives of 30 years that’s one a year (on average) – when was the last time we launched a ship for the navy? Prince of Wales maybe other than the astutes?
We need to be launching an escort every 2 years after we make up the short fall, every time that moves to longer we reduce the size of the fleet.
Since we launched Prince of Wales the following ships have been launched for the RN:
HMS Forth April 18
HMS Medway Sept 19
HMS Trent Aug 20
HMS Tamar Dec 20
HMS Spey June 21
HMS Anson April 22
HMS Glasgow Dec 22
HMS Cardiff Sept 24
HMS Agamemnon Oct 24
The issue is not so much how many ships we can launch it’s
1) the fact the RN and MOD spent 15 years deciding what a frigate actually was
2)the decade long gap in surface combatant production.
3) the trickle through of orders and annual budget that reduced build capacity.
If there is an agreed design and funding the UK can have a build rate of 2 surface combatants a year every in the water ( we have 2 yards that can be working on a total of around 8 hulls at a time from steel cutting to fitting out ). Once we have our large ship, shipyard running as well it will be able to produce a large less complex warships at 1 every 2-3 years.
Submarine building is the same, the only issue was the long pause in production before asute…
In fairness the RN knew what they wanted quite a while beforehand with their C1, C2 and C3 concept, it was more trying to square that with budgets that sent them down a long rabbit hole before coming back round (almost by accident) to the 26, 31, B2 operations concept.
So the Type 32 isn’t dead yet, although in ‘concept’ phase is a big target badge for any axe to throw at.
Type 32 is ACME ship. Unless RN stops existing T32 will always appear, the point is when and how many.
So Argus is immortal?
With good maintenance there is no need for ships to go out of date. The USA were using ww2 battleships in the gulf, we have ww2 battle cruiser still afloat and frankly repairable. As I said elsewhere going into battle in an out of date ship is better than swimming
Belfast is a light cruiser. No ammunition for that one.
HMS Hood was a battlecruiser.
Belfast’s engines last ran in the 1960’s, she is not “frankly repairable.” Ignoring questions about how sea worthy her hull is you would have to completely replace her entire propulsion system. Litterally would be cheaper and more effective to build a ship from the ground up.
Given that the USMC are ordering F35Bs for their next batch it seems likely that the Carriers won’t have a STOVL aircraft available to them to replace the F35 so they will have to be refitted to CATOBAR if they’re going to last to 2065, hard to see that happening.
The looming cliff edge for the minor warship fleet should worry us all. The obsession with light frigates has hollowed out the fleet where we have less than 10 ships where even a decade ago we had close to 30. This needs to be addressed urgently.
“obsession with light frigates.”
What are you even on about?