The second of eight Type 26 City-class anti-submarine warfare frigates has departed BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard, headed for a deep-water location in the water west of Scotland where it will enter the water for the first time.
According to a BAE Systems release on 30 August 2024, a team of engineering specialists transferred HMS Cardiff from the shipyard slipway to a barge to begin the float-off process. Once in position, and over a number of hours, the barge will submerge and the anti-submarine warfare frigate will enter the water.
HMS Cardiff will then return to BAE Systems’ Scotstoun shipyard where it will undergo the next stages of outfit before test and commissioning.
BAE Systems state that the float off process is a “more modern, efficient, and low risk way” for a ship to enter the water, compared to the previous dynamic launches where ships were slid down a slipway, as seen with some US shipyards which still practice such operations.
The float off process was used for the first-of-class, HMS Glasgow, in November 2022 as well as the five Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessels, which BAE Systems also built in Glasgow, the last of which was delivered to the Royal Navy in 2020.
Type 26 frigate: a new anti-submarine warfare class
Of the other three Type 26 vessels under construction, HMS Glasgow is undergoing the outfit of its combat and mission systems at Scotstoun and HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham are under construction at Govan.
The fourth in class HMS Birmingham is the first ship to be constructed under a £4.2bn ($5.5bn) contract for the remaining five ships secured in November 2022, the second batch and effectively completing the order for eight vessels.
The build process for each ship involves its structure being completed in Govan where the units are built before they are assembled into two main blocks which are joined together externally on hardstanding before the ship departs.
HMS Cardiff will be the last Type 26 to have this initial work partly constructed outside, as the new multi-million-pound shipbuilding hall will enable the teams to complete the structures of the remaining frigates indoors.
In Scotstoun, the ship’s outfit is completed, and the complex systems are installed before test and commissioning takes place. As the first ship in class, HMS Glasgow is expected to enter service in 2028.
The Type 26 programme is comprised of eight ships, which are expected to enter service between 2028 and the mid-2030s.
The second batch will include HMS Birmingham, HMS Sheffield, HMS Newcastle, HMS Edinburgh, and HMS London. Designed with at least a 25-year service life, Type 26s will serve in the future Royal Navy surface fleet into the 2060s.
