This is the progress made by shipwrights on the Clyde building the first of eight new Type 26 frigates since the end of January.
Two more sections have been completed, ready to be added to the already-joined forward segment of HMS Glasgow at BAE Systems’ yard in Govan, while the RN’s traditional paint scheme has been applied to units pieced together in what will eventually be an 8,000-tonne jigsaw.
The fore and aft sections are being constructed in two giant halls at Govan, where the various sections are transferred after work on them is complete in the fabrication facility.
In the block and outfit hall it’s the task of engineers to join the numerous sections together – including connecting all the cabling and pipework which runs through Glasgow.
Last month, the finished aft section of Glasgow was hidden beneath swathes of tarpaulin. Not so this month, where the canvas has been removed to allow you your first sight of the stern section as it stands, again with a fresh section waiting to be attached.
Once fore and aft are finished, they will be moved out of the sheds on huge transporters, joined, the remaining superstructure will be craned into place (such as Glasgow’s bridge and her main mast), ready for the outwardly-complete warship to be lowered into the Clyde and towed downstream to BAE’s other yard on the river at Scotstoun, where fitting out will take place.
