At last - Navy orders three Type 26's
 

• The long-awaited Batch 1 contract covers the construction of the first three of a planned class of eight ships
• The formal steel cutting for the first of class will occur at BAE Systems' Govan facility later this month

BAE Systems will officially begin production of the first of the UK Royal Navy's new Type 26 frigates later in July after being awarded a GBP3.7 billion (USD4.8 billion) contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the programme's manufacture phase.
Signed on 29 June, the long-awaited Batch 1 contract covers the construction of the first three of a planned class of eight ships. The contract for the second batch of five ships is expected to be negotiated in the early 2020s.
A formal steel cutting ceremony for the first of class will occur at BAE Systems' Govan facility on the River Clyde later this month. A pilot block steel cut was previously performed in March this year to test the engineering and planning process.
Intended to replace eight anti-submarine warfare (ASW) configured Type 23 frigates from the mid-2020s, the 6,900-tonne displacement Type 26 Global Combat Ship has been conceived as an acoustically quiet surface combatant optimised for ASW but also capable of contributing to a wide range of other missions. The Royal Navy had originally planned to procure a further five general purpose variants, but the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) cut these from the programme, committing instead to the acquisition of at least five smaller, cheaper Type 31 general purpose frigates (GPFFs).

Great to see real ships being built on the Clyde again. Stupid attitudes of both owners and unions wrecked the industry there in the 70s while in Korea, Taiwan etc they were quietly taking over, unnoticed it seemed by the warring factions back home.

Batch ordering works fine for allowing costs to be reevaluated at later dates, but also allows for intended orders to be cut (Type 45 for example, the last two were 'about to be ordered' right up until they were cancelled)

Nothing unusual here. HMT was never going to contract for all eight in a oner.


T23 was contracted in five batches stretching over ten years, NORF, ARGL, LANC, MARL, followed by IRDK, MON, MONT, followed by WEST, NORT, RCMD, then SOM, GRAF, SUTH and lastly KENT, PTLD, STLB.


What is under the radar is that delivery has slipped to ~2026 and at a two yr interval. F8cked if I can understand why it takes nine years and a gazillion manhours to build a 7000te warship on the Clyde, when pretty much anywhere else would do it in under half that.

what you need is the same strategy as the Japanese & chinese - regular orders and small upgrades

Need a lot of fast patrol boats for coastal waters.

WHy?

What threat would they counter? It's not as if we're like Malta or Italy with a zillion refugees sailing over..........................

Yet......Channel will get interesting again this summer and moreso in future - although that is an argument for strengthening Border Force.

If we ever do get out of the EU and start to reclaim our waters for fishing we are going to need a lot more than the current three vessels able to carry out fisheries protection, maybe up to ten? An ideal job for a re-formed RNR?

They don't have to be big or particularly sophisticated but you can be sure that once MOD PE (or whatever its called these days) get their hands on the project they will end up costing five times more than necessary :*

Plus a few MPA for Tapestry flights

yeah well we're plannignto decommision sell soem the Batch1 Rivers as the Batch 2 are delivered - which seems rather silly TBH

But we paid a lot more for our Rivers than the Brazilians and the Thais did IIRC

For Fisheries protection we should be thinking of something like the Irish "Samuel Beckett" @ £ 50 mm a pop rather than the Rrivers at £ 115 mm each TBH

Will this frigate deploy with the Merlin?

two Wildcats or a Merlin was being talked about tho the RN site says it could land a Chinook if necessary....

we shall see

Let's hope the RN breaks with post 1970 tradition and puts a comprehensive weapons fit on them. No more of this "designed for, but not with" nonsense.

The plan (and that is the critical word) is they will be equipped with the Type 997 Artisan 3D search radar and Sea Ceptor (CAMM) air-defence missiles launched via 48 vertical launching system (VLS) canisters.

An additional 24-cell Mark 41 "strike-length VLS" is positioned forward of the bridge capable of firing missiles such as the Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile, a future anti-ship missile, or quad packed Sea Ceptor missiles.

It will have an acoustically quiet hull for anti-submarine warfare and fitted with a Thales Underwater Systems Type 2050 bow sonar and a powerful Sonar 2087 towed array.

They will also be fitted with guns of various calibres. Instead of the RN's current 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun, they will be equipped with a NATO-standard BAE 5 inch, 62-calibre Mark 45 naval gun. Smaller guns include two Phalanx CIWS, two 30mm DS30M Mark 2 Automated Small Calibre Guns and a number of miniguns and general-purpose machine guns

China's Type 055 Super Destroyer Is A Reality Check For The US And Its Allies - The Drive

Sorry I'm a rum 'un shipmates am on restrictions and can't hyperlink.

Rum, backy and er BUM.

These are big old boats, calling them Frigates is a bit last century, they are closer to anti-submarine destroyers

Absolutely - 12,000 tons!!

If it has a weakness I'd suspect the electronics -and the integration thereof.

The Chinese navy has developed very fast and they consequently have a very wide range of kit to suport and integrate. Some of their in-service frigates are using what is essentialy a rip-off of a western commercial radar from the early 00's I think. When you see the problems the west often has with relatively mature kit you have to wonder if the Chinese will ever be able to fuly integrate their systems

Will the Royal Navy have to trade in their current 3 Swan Boats and a Pedalo - or do they get to keep them?

I just hope that this is not seen as an excuse by the politicians cut support budgets for the Type 23 and her systems. Remember our ships and sailors do go in harm's way - and nobody can predict the future.

Already it appears that the shortage of manpower (caused by the SDSR 10 cuts and not rectified by SDSR 15 - we all hoped for a significant manpower uplift) is leading to ships having the proven Sea Wolf system replaced by Sea Ceptor (not yet tested). After all, MOD has never had problems with integrating things before...

Also the ships are working very hard - hence being worn out. Likewise people...