BAE Systems Naval Ships business in Glasgow is continuing to progress the outfit of the lead Type 26 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigate for the UK Royal Navy (RN) ahead of the ship’s planned handover in 2026.
The future HMS Glasgow, the first Type 26 frigate for the Royal Navy, is progressing towards completion. Picture from December 2023 courtesy of George Allisson / Uk Defence Journal.
Richard Scott 24 Apr 2024
The future HMS Glasgow – the first of eight Type 26 ASW frigates ordered by the UK Ministry of Defence – has now received both its bow mounted and towed array sonar systems, and is shortly to receive its MK 45 Mod 4 5-inch medium-calibre gun.
Glasgow has been in dry dock in Scotstoun, on the north bank of the River Clyde, since its float-off in late 2022. Scotstoun is Naval Ship’s focal point for final outfit, commissioning test and trials; steelwork and major ship construction activity is undertaken at its sister Govan yard, which lies on the south bank of the Clyde.
Sir Simon Lister, managing director of BAE Naval Ships, said that work continues to insulate, paint and outfit Glasgow in Scotstoun. “We intend to move her into [the wet dock] for final test and commissioning in the autumn of this year,” he said. “Cardiff [ship 2] will then take her place in dry dock.”
Lister estimates Glasgow to be at least 65% complete, with all structural steelwork is complete, and major equipment installations are underway.
“We’re preparing to fit the [main] gun, we’ve fitted the bow sonar [Sonar 2150], and we are currently testing the towed array sonar [Sonar 2087]. All the engines are in, shafts and so on are in. We’re at that stage of connecting and installing the last few pipes, wiring up the ship, and setting-it-to-work prior to testing and commissioning.”
Sir Simon Lister, managing director of BAE Naval Ships
Glasgow is due to be formally named during 2025. Sea trials are planned to start in early 2026, with handover to follow later that same year.
Following handover, the RN will undertake a period of training and work-up on Glasgow. “They are planning for an initial operating capability in the 2028 timeframe,” said Lister.
While acknowledging that the first-of-class build had been challenging, Lister said that lessons learned are already improving performance on subsequent ships:
“We’re shrugging off the challenges of the prototype, and the design is now finished. The amount of change that’s in the programme is being eroded all the time – so the amount of change in ship 3 is one tenth of the amount of change that’s in ship 2.”
The second Type 26, the future HMS Cardiff, is progressing towards structural completion on the hardstand in Govan, with work underway to fit and align the ship’s shaft lines. Float-off is planned for the third quarter of 2024, after which Cardiff will be moved to dry dock in Scotstoun to continue fitting out.
All Type 26 frigates from ship 3 (HMS Belfast) onwards are planned to be consolidated under cover within a new Wet Basin Hall assembly facility now taking shape on the Govan site. According to Lister, blocks of Belfast will start moving into the hall at the end of this year. “The facility will not be completely finished until August/September next year,” he said, “but because the roof [is going to be on] we will take advantage of the weather protection that provides over the winter.”
BAE Systems forecasts that the productivity and efficiency benefits accruing from the new covered assembly hall will realise significant time and cost reductions in future Type 26 builds. “The business case for building the Wet Basin Hall is based on our ability to accelerate production and use less hours in building the ships,” Lister said. “We aim to reduce the build duration from the first-of-class being 96 months to the eighth being 60 months. And more than that we intend to compress the interval between ships from 18 months to 12 [months].”
TAGS BAE Systems Shipbuilding Type 26
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Posted by : Richard Scott
Richard Scott is a well-known UK-based writer on the Royal Navy and other naval forces worldwide.
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