The frigates, currently in build in Rosyth, are to be named after Scottish leaders in a bid to protect the union.
The first vessel HMS William Wallace will be followed by the HMS Robert the Bruce, HMS Nicola Sturgeon, HMS Douglas Ross and HMS Anas Sarwar.
A spokesperson for the Department of Scotland and the Scots said:
“This will cement the union between Scotland and England for another 300 years.”
This comes not long after an update on the project. Despite speculation that steel cutting for the first Type 31 Frigate has slipped due to COVID19, it has been confirmed that the steel will be cut this year as planned.
Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, asked:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to Answer 5 March 2020 to Question 21163, with regards to the Type 31 Frigate contract, whether his Department still plans to cut steel this year.”
Jeremy Quin, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, replied:
“Yes, on current plans the steel will be cut for the first of the Type 31 Frigates in 2021.”
Last year, we learned that that work was being undertaken to mitigate any potential impact from COVID-19 on the Type 31 programme.
Douglas Chapman, the Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Small Business, Enterprise and Innovation, asked via a Parliamentary written question:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the timescale of the Type 31e frigate project.”
Jeremy Quin, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, responded:
“The Department is working with Babcock and its suppliers to de-risk and mitigate any potential for impact to the Type 31 programme due to COVID-19. Most of the current key outputs for the programme are focused on design, infrastructure development and supply chain mobilisation, and work continues within the Government’s safe working requirements.”
Congraulations and thank you for reading the whole article, this is just an April Fools Day joke. The article above is not true and if anyone is sharing this after the 1st of April, please do remind them of that fact. The purpose of this article, aside from our usual April Fools day joke, is to make the point that reading beyond the headline should be the norm every day, not just on the 1st of April. There’s a large volume of misinformation online, make sure you don’t add to it by sharing articles without reading them. Finally, be careful of the person sharing this article after the 1st of April as they very clearly don’t read what they share.
Lol
Perhaps the Flodden, Dunbar, Pinkie, Culloden and Neville’s Cross if we want to preserve the union ?
A lot of Scots fought on the Hanoverian side at Culloden, it wasn’t an England versus Scotland issue per-se.
About half I believe, people tend to forget the highland lowland divide.
very good April1 angle. Do we seriously know what the Admiralty might be planning for the class name? Woul this be the E class following on from the D class type 45?
Doubt it would be an E class as the Survey Ships have taken E (albeit only 2 in the class). Perhaps an Admiral, weapon or battle class?! For their role, perhaps a rerun of some Leanders. Let’s hope it’s interesting though and not place or region names (T23, T26 Hunts, Sandowns, B1 OPVs & B2 OPVs)
Not necessarily, it depends entirely on what the government and Admiralty at the time fancy. We’ve also technically got an E-class at the moment, with HMS Echo and Enterprise.
I personally fancy another Battle-class, perhaps HMS Armada, Trafalgar, Jutland, Atlantic, and San Carlos.
cheers Callum thanks for the input. I am thinking your last suggestion won’t fly though given the world today. heavens to betsy someone somewhere is offended
Given that the build is due to start soon, it’s suprising that we haven’t seen the first of class named. It’s likely to coincide with the first steel being cut, although that being said, the names of the new Gibraltar patrol ships have not been announced yet.
In terms of a naming convention, it’s anyone’s guess really. They might take inspiration from the Type 21’s (in both function and name) and the name of the design of itself to come up with the ‘Arrow’ class. (Arrow, Alacrity, Avenger, Antelope, Ardent). I am aware of course of the Astute class, but it wouldn’t be outside the realms of possibility.
They might revert to the ‘B’ names used by the Type 22s, as some of those were great names. Leander names might be used, although it’s worth noting that the Leander design lost the competition, which might relegate their use (although they come with a lot of history!).
However, the idea of naming it to ‘keep people happy’ isn’t far off. They might be named for people of merit, or even counties of the UK (Cornwall, Antrim etc).
My vote’s for Firedrake, Fury, Fame, Formidable and Fearless.
All great names. Maybe not for T31 though.
Bearing Arrow in mind, another option would be a new Weapon class. HMS Arrow, Broadsword, Battleaxe, Cutlass, and Crossbow perhaps
More likely HMS Fitted, HMS For, HMS But, HMS Not and HMS With.
But that was a good April 1.
🙂 🙂 🙂
I vote for the revenge class. HMS revenge, HMS vengeances, hms oppose, hms challenger, hms tiger
This gets my vote.
I would like to see the Tribal Class brought back, HMS Zulu etc ;P
Save the Battle Class for Type 83!
Do we have a C class?
We do not have a C class currently. The last batch of Type 22s was the previous C class, hence why the T45s are D. I can’t see the Admiralty naming committee backtracking, if they go down the alphabetical route it’ll be E or F (depending on if they count the Echo class survey ships)
maybe they could be the names of British cruisers or destroyers when Boris finally wakes up from his dream and realises we aren’t at the top anymore!
They will also come fitted with a 84 quad packed VLS with the latest Derk Thurst anti ship missile. ?
I read the headline and my first thought was “The Secretary of State named the class after himself?”
Very good… almost fell foul of it.
A good April fool but having a “Saint” class doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. The first four are obvious (Andrew, David, George & Patrick) but I’m sure there must be at least one more that is synonymous to the U.K.?
HMS Pike, Mainwairing, Jones, Godfrey and Frazier would strike fear into our enemies.
Who do you think your kidding ;P haha
HMS Don’t panic
HMS No More Cuts?
good one.
They should go ahead with this, and re-name the OPV’s the Grommet class.
No, I think the first commanding officer should be required to change his name to Gromit.
An even more sneaky April Fools than normal since there really was an HMS Wallace and the Duke of Edinburgh served on her in WW2. Of course by the time we got to name number three you kind of blew it 🙂
HMS Bruce was a real ship as well!
Does that mean the Type 32’s will be known as the “Grommit” class? Ha-Ha!
Brilliant! This one cracks me up even more than the others.
Quite honestly, any name in the near future would be something. Still favour Leander-class, but find Bird-class also has appeal for ships scattered to the four winds (five winds?).
Goshawk; Harrier; Kestrel; Osprey; Saker, for instance!
🙂 That would be the most blatant case of pandering EVER, LOL.
Some silly names suggested here. I am reliably informed that the lead ship will be Lulu followed by MacBeth, Perez, Rebus and Taggart..
This is not far off the mark as they have already called the first one Glasgow…
That’s Type 26!
Yes but its the same thing. It is obvious that tge first T26 was named Glasgow for political reasons.
Oh yes, that was obvious.
Heheh
Admiral class; Nelson, Howe, Rodney.
Excellent April Fool though.
Already have a Nelson.
Yes, excellent.
I think HMS William Wallace would be great name for a Frigate.
And HMS Nippy has good ring to it too.
When I saw the Wallace Class I thought OK after Barns Wallace, then I saw the Nicola Sturgeon then it clicked, maybe if they changed the names of the Heads to the Sturgeons I could get it.
HMS Bungle, Zippy, George, Geoffrey, or maybe HMS Tobermory, Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco, Bungo, Wellington.
?
Morning Daniele. Uncle Bulgaria has a nice ring to it and I must admit George is on top form this April 1 season! How about something for us here in the Commonwealth from the Zulu language-HMS Hamba kancane, HMS Gandaganda,HMS Skebenga, HMS Putu and HMS Tokoloshe
*translations in order from the above-Go Slowly, Tractor(onomatapeic from the sound of a Tractor) Criminal, Maize porridge, mischievous spirit 🙂
Morning Geoff
Ahhh, I did wonder! I like HMS Mischievous Spirit actually!
And jokes aside I like the thought of a “Tribal” class, though I think these days the woke brigade would have a pink fit.
Plunging temperatures in Surrey, though I think us southerners will avoid the snow forecast!
The world of weather is turned upside down Daniele. One minute 24 deg C in March, the next snow in April!! Actually a revival of the TribalClass is not a bad idea. Cement Commonwealth ties!
I like HMS Gunbuster personally !
I got that point some years ago, stop with the jokes and report actual news.
When will stop sucking up to the Scots by all means name the Class whatever you want but to do it to please the SNP , and thats an impossible task. is utterly weak.I cant beleive the amount of Navy build being tossed to Scotland its way over the top
Would the Scots comment on the amount of RAF build going to England?
Pandering to the SNP, I think that does happen regards Scots Infantry Battalion names retained at expense of English ones, but not warships, that is where our warship production currently is.
Could the remnants of English yards even do the work regards complex warships?
There was a real ship called Sturgeon, an S sub of the WW2 era.
My choice is Fearless, Formidable, Furious, Fortitude & Foresight
HMS Expendable would be a good name given their lack of capability.
Clearly someone got that idea from my comment last week about HMS Owain Glyndŵr and jokingly asking had there ever been an HMS Robert the Bruce or HMS William Wallace. I hope the cheque is in the post.
HMS Deep Fried ?