Originally Posted by
SLXOwft
FT opinion article Babcock’s cheaper warships offer the Royal Navy hope byJohn Gapper this morning, how Type 31 has been good for Babcock's performance and emphasising the importance of a regular drumbeat to preserve expertise and avoid future expense attempting to extend the service of obsolete/obsolescent ships. I am led to wonder who or what prompted it. (Behind paywall)
Well its a bit of a puff piece - probably instigated by Babcock to try and get some follow-on orders for T31.
To suggest that the T31 is inherently able to be built quicker than T26 is nonsense. The reason T26 is being built so slowly is down to BAES Clyde execrable productivity, which is seeing them deliver approximately one-third of the tonnage per annum that a late 80s / early 90s yard with the same manpower but vastly inferior facilities could do. If Babcock are aiming to cut the build time for a T31 to four years, that's just about in the acceptable duration, not anything to shout about....