HMS Glasgow

HMS Glasgow is the first City Class Type 26 frigate, a fast, adaptable, future-proofed ship built in her namesake city. She will enter service in the mid-2020s.

Role

Fast and adaptable with exceptional range, HMS Glasgow is an advanced anti-submarine warfare vessel, designed to provide essential protection to our nuclear deterrent and aircraft carriers.

Though the City-class frigates are still in construction, when they launch they will become the new workhorses of our fleet, building on the pedigree of our Type 23 frigates.

Designed with tomorrow in mind from day one, their flexible construction empowers adaptations and upgrades, so our people will have the weapon systems to be to counter future threats.

What’s more, the latest advances in digital technologies – including 3D and virtual reality – are helping us refine and improve the ship‘s design even as her steel is being cut.

City Class

Capability

HMS Glasgow is the first in a new generation of cutting-edge frigates called the City Class, exceptional ships designed to adapt and to deliver manpower and capabilities to meet every challenge.

HMS Glasgow’s flight deck will be able to accommodate helicopters up to the size of the RAF’s Chinooks, while her loading bay can quickly adapt to house and deploy vessels, vehicles and containers.

The result? A frigate empowered to adapt to changing missions, from disaster relief and humanitarian aid operations to embarking military forces or supporting diving operations.

Crew

Once fully operational, the eventual complement of the HMS Glasgow will be 161 Royal Navy personnel.

HMS Glasgow’s primary role in a task group is to provide an anti-submarine screen for the main force. Because of this, she has some unique specialities:

She is fitted with a world class low frequency active and passive towed array sonar, used to detect, classify and track submarines before they detect her.

She can embark either a Merlin or Wildcat helicopter which can carry torpedoes and depth charges to attack submarines at longer ranges.

Beyond this, she has been designed with a Mission Bay which can be fitted with custom equipment profiles. This makes HMS Glasgow a highly capable, highly adaptable, Global Combat Ship.

Unit history

1700

A brave history

There have been eight Royal Navy ships of the name Glasgow from the early 1700s, completing missions from Arctic Convoys to the Normandy Landings.

1982

Battle honours

Since the 1700s the Glasgows have earned ten battle honours. The most recent ship to bear the name was awarded the the Falkland Islands honours in 1982.

2017

First steel is cut

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon began the steel cutting for the latest HMS Glasgow, first in a new generation of City-class frigates.

Join the Surface Fleet

Ready to go places? A career in the Surface Fleet could take you all over the world - on missions as varied as the oceans we defend.