Civic leaders from Cardiff recently had their inaugural viewing of HMS Cardiff in Glasgow.

The state-of-the-art Type 26 warship, presently being pieced together, is set to play a crucial role in safeguarding UK waters from hostile submarines.

The vessel holds particular significance for defending the UK’s aircraft carrier battle groups and submarines carrying the nation’s nuclear deterrent.

Cardiff stands as the second vessel in a series of eight, freshly out from the construction site at BAE’s Govan facility. The ship’s design allows for the fore and aft segments to be seamlessly connected, leading to the completion of the hull.

Post-construction, HMS Cardiff will be loaded onto a barge and moved down the river, only to be towed back to Scotstoun for the final fitting out. Its predecessor, HMS Glasgow, is currently in the final stages of completion at the same location.

Though there isn’t a crew designated to HMS Cardiff yet, future plans indicate that it will replace the destroyer HMS Dragon as the affiliated warship for the city of Cardiff.

“Our city had strong links and a lasting friendship with the former HMS Cardiff and we are extremely proud that one of Royal Navy’s next generation of submarine hunters will also bear the Welsh capital’s name,” remarked the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor Bablin Molik.

The Lord Mayor was among the esteemed guests who received an exclusive tour of the ship led by BAE and members of Glasgow’s crew. Molik added, “We look forward to strengthening Cardiff’s ties with both the Royal Navy and the new HMS Cardiff in years to come.”

You can read more by clicking here.

George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison

16 COMMENTS

  1. Missing an opportunity to mess with people’s heads there, they could have affiliated HMS Cardiff to Swansea 😁😂

  2. Should the weld be stronger than the material welded, how will the ship stand up to the forces of the Atlantic?

    Could we expect to see rents on the hulls?

    Is a keel up build stronger? How are the Astutes doing?

    Roll on the Hall.

    • The hull will have many structural beams running through it these will be bolted and welded too as part of joining the hull. The hull does not just rely on one outer weld alone.

    • The US carriers and ours are all modular builds so was T45, it’s really not an issue, keel up building is just no longer a thing.

    • I said this before it’s really a psychological thing for the brain to cope with rather than structural. Think the Germans originated modularity just pre war but once you accept the concept in reality starting at the front and adding sections progressively on to it is not really different in how they are joined than doing it in two halves and then joining them together, other than making that last ‘join’ a little more complex no doubt due to the relative sizes of the two structures being joined. In terms of strength though there should be no difference whatsoever in that structural join, than if you add on sections till you get the full length which no doubt is how it will be done in the new Hall. It’s our minds that struggle with the concept and understandably so, I still have to convince myself of my logic.

      • Still don’t make sense that psychological thing, there is not a structural part in one piece long as an hull since almost the age of sail and even then.

      • The German U boats had a tremendous diving depth far deeper than our submarines. All the same you could always overlap one or two hull shell plates.
        Just thinking a pity they couldn’t have cut and shut a new engine room into the Nelson and Rodney for 30kns + that would have really been the business.
        Fine job we did of repairing HMS Belfast 1939 where the midships was reinforced and the beam increased. Almost anything is possible.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here