Royal Navy: New Type 26 frigate HMS Cardiff sails for the first time along River Clyde in Scotland

HMS Cardiff entered the River Clyde over the weekend nearly five years to the day when the steel was first cut for the Type 26 submarine hunter. She was moved onto the largest barge of its type in Europe and travelled from the BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard for Loch Long and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) facility.

Across several days, she was carefully lowered into the water in a delicate float-off operation. HMS Cardiff was when escorted by tug up the river to the Scotstoun facility on the north bank of the Clyde. She will stay at the location for outfitting and trials before eventually joining the fleet. The vessel will soon move for fitting out into the dry dock - the same place vacated by HMS Glasgow, the first of the Type 26 vessels. Shipwrights, technicians, engineers, and the new members of the ship’s company, will install and commission the systems aboard ship.

The shipbuilding programme aims to supplement and modernise the Royal Navy fleet City-class frigates will replace their Type 23 counterparts. The vessels will be used to support air defence and general purpose operations alongside anti-submarine missions. A total of eight ships are being constructed, including HMS Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London.

David Shepherd, Type 26 Programme Director for BAE Systems, was pleased to see HMS Cardiff on the water. “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,” he added. “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.” With HMS Cardiff now out of the Govan shipyard, the attention has turned to HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham. HMS Sheffield will be laid down later this autumn. They will be constructed indoors in the new Janet Harvey Hall, a huge assembly shed which will be completed next year. Personnel can then work on Type 26 frigates side by side. All the Type 26 ships are expected to be in the fleet by the mid 2030s.