'Step change' for Royal Navy's Portsmouth base as 'more capable' support ships coming to bolster ops

Advanced new support ships coming to Portsmouth will be a ‘step change’ for the naval base, a defence director has said.

Andy Linegar, business development director for defence at Serco, praised the standard of new vessels being built for the Royal Navy’s HMNB Portsmouth. These vessels were procured as part of a mammoth ten-year £850m contract between Serco Maritime and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Speaking at the Seawork conference in Southampton on June 9, Mr Linegar said they will form a core of new vessels for years to come. He told The News: “Those vessels will be more capable than the ones we’ve already got. They’re replacing those currently in service which are coming to the end of their lives.

“They will have improvements in more capable command and control systems, and operating systems. That’ll make them easier to operate, so their availability should be higher. For Portsmouth, it’s going to be a step change I think in the capability and availability of those vessels.”

The Defence Maritime Services contract will see 24 new vessels be procured for HMNB Portsmouth, HMNB Devonport, and HMNB Clyde. Built by the Netherlands-based firm Damen Shipyards, the vessels will include azimuth stern drive (ASD) and reverse stern drive (RSD) tugs, pilot boats, passenger vessels, barges and cranes barges.

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Of these, three of them will be stationed at HMNB Clyde, five in Portsmouth, and 16 at HMNB Devonport. While it was confirmed to The News that the tug boats were procured for the other naval bases, they can be temporarily be assigned to Portsmouth when operationally necessary.

The contract also covers afloat services at the naval base, which includes all towage activities, bunkering and watering, tank cleaning, passenger services, trials work, munitions and nuclear safety procedures. The shipbuilding element received criticism from chancellor Rachel Reeves, who would have preferred for the vessels to be built in Britain.

Mr Linegar sees a bright future for the work in Portsmouth. He added: “The reliability of our service is there. This will only improve that, and that will improve the trust the Navy has in our teams. We see hybrid navy as the future, and we want to shape that future as well.”