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Ahoy HMS Cardiff – second Type 26 frigate debuts in the Clyde
5 September 2024
There are now two of the Royal Navy’s next generation frigates in the water – briefly – as HMS Cardiff entered the Clyde for the first time over the weekend.
Nearly five years to the day steel was first cut for the Type 26 submarine hunter, the ship was moved on to the largest barge of its type in Europe and left BAE Systems’ Govan yard for Loch Long and the MOD facility at Glen Mallan.
There, over several days, she was carefully lowered into the water for the first time in a delicate operation involving not just experts from BAE, but also the Royal Navy and the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support, and safeguarded by Minister of Defence Police’s Clyde Marine Unit.
The last act of the float-off operation – spread over several days – was to tug the now afloat HMS Cardiff (the first in nearly 20 years when the Type 42 destroyer was in service) back up river to BAE’s Scotstoun facility, on the Clyde’s north bank.
There Cardiff – whose sponsor is opera singer Katherine Jenkins – joins the lead ship of the City class for outfitting, leading eventually to trials and ultimately joining the Fleet.
Shortly she’ll move for fitting out into dry dock – the same dock recently vacated by HMS Glasgow to accommodate Cardiff.
And there, like Glasgow before her, shipwrights, technicians, engineers and, when they join, ship’s company will install and commission the systems which will make the Type 26s the world’s foremost anti-submarine warships.
For now, the thousands of people who’ve toiled on Cardiff for the past five years are delighted – and proud - to see her depart Govan (she leaves the yard in a more complete state than her predecessor, weighing in at around 6,000 tonnes).
The Type 26 has awesome and world-leading capability and we’re looking forward to installing HMS Cardiff’s complex systems and bringing her to life.
“Seeing the latest ship in the water for the first time is a proud and exciting moment for the thousands of people involved in this great national endeavour,” said David Shepherd, Type 26 Programme Director for BAE Systems.
“The Type 26 has awesome and world-leading capability and we’re looking forward to installing HMS Cardiff’s complex systems and bringing her to life.”
Modern shipbuilding methods constructing vessels in huge sections plus the tremendous strain on a hull which a slipway launch imposes (several warships have been damaged in the past) make the much gentler float off the favoured method for a 21st Century launch, although it does lack the drama and excitement of a bottle of champagne smashing against the hull to send the vessel into the river to the roar and clatter of chains and cheering crowds.
With Cardiff gone, attention at Govan now focuses on Type 26s No.3 (Belfast) and No.4 (Birmingham), plus No.5 (Sheffield) which will be laid down later this autumn.
They will all be constructed indoors – Glasgow and Cardiff spent many months on the hardstanding at Govan, exposed to the Scottish weather – in the new Janet Harvey hall, a gigantic assembly shed which will be completed next year, where two Type 26s can be put together side-by-side.
Between 2028 and the mid-2030s the eight City-class frigates will replace the ageing Type 23 frigates which currently perform vital anti-submarine patrols to safeguard UK waters and interests from underwater threats.