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Formidable steps: new frigate starts to take shape as keel is laid in Rosyth
9 December 2025
The past met the future in Rosyth as the third of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates begins to take shape.
The keel of HMS Formidable has been laid in a ceremony merging naval tradition with modern shipbuilding techniques at the Babcock facility on the Forth.
Watched by hundreds of fellow shipwrights, engineers, technicians, their families, and VIPs the very youngest person involved in the Inspiration-class programme - Joolz Hunter, 17, a welding and fabrication apprentice from Rosyth, placed a newly-minted coin beneath the keel.
The coin – featuring Formidable’s crest on one side, the Babcock logo on the reverse – is believed to bestow the ship’s company with good fortune throughout the vessel’s career.
It’s a ceremony which in various forms goes back hundreds of years (the team restoring Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory found a coin under the main mast).
Work has been under way on Formidable since October 2024, when the first steel was cut, with various segments taking shape.
With keel laying, Formidable begins to take on the form of a warship as the first of 170 modules (each the weight of 15 family cars) which will make up the finished vessel that will patrol the Seven Seas performing general duties under the White Ensign.
Only HMS Venturer, the first ship in the class of five, has a crew at present; they are responsible for all three vessels.
“HMS Formidable’s keel laying ceremony marks a significant milestone in the Type 31 project’s relentless progress in delivering the Royal Navy’s Inspiration Class to operations,” said Commander Thomas Hetherington, Senior Naval Officer of HMS Venturer and Type 31 Ships.
“The ceremony blends the tradition of marking the birth of a ship with the undoubted technological advances that have been used in designing and building her for the extremely complex environment she will sail in.
“HMS Formidable will help modernise the Royal Navy’s frigate fleet and enhance the lived experience for our sailors as they continue to deliver on operations across the globe.”
HMS Formidable’s keel laying ceremony marks a significant milestone in the Type 31 project’s relentless progress in delivering the Royal Navy’s Inspiration Class to operations.
His ship is in the water at the Babcock works undergoing final fitting. The second ship in the programme, HMS Active, is due to be rolled out of the assembly hall next year, while work will also begin on the fourth frigate, HMS Bulldog, which teenager Joolz is looking forward to get to work on.
“Being part of this project is incredible, I’m learning from experienced professionals and contributing to something that matters for the UK and has such a positive impact for our local community,” said Joolz, who is one of more than 300 apprentices taken on by Babcock.
He and his colleagues are benefitting from the “defence dividend” of investment in the UK military, said Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry.
“The 300 apprentices and 350 local operatives working at Rosyth are building not just world-class warships, but careers and skills that will sustain communities across Scotland,” he continued.
“This is the defence dividend in action – strengthening our national security, whilst delivering quality jobs and driving economic growth.
"The keel laying of HMS Formidable is a significant step in delivering the Type 31 programme – ships which will protect our nation and project British power across the globe for years to come.”
Sir Nick Hine, Babcock’s Marine CEO, said the firm and its workforce were “delivering one of the most advanced defence programmes, that is driving economic growth and providing highly skilled jobs to our surrounding communities here in Scotland, putting Rosyth right at the heart of UK shipbuilding innovation and cutting-edge digital technology.”
The Type 31s, which will be based in Portsmouth, are one half of the replacement programme for the aging Type 23 frigates; they will perform general duties such as counter-smuggling operations, disaster relief, maritime security patrols), while Type 26 frigates being built on the Clyde will assume anti-submarine patrols.