HMS Cardiff floated on a barge down the River Clyde to Glenmallan

HMS Cardiff floated on a barge down the River Clyde to Glenmallan

New Navy frigate makes first journey on giant barge

The Royal Navy's newest Type 26 frigate is making its first journey down the River Clyde, carried by a giant barge.

HMS Cardiff is the second of eight anti-submarine warfare ships being constructed at the BAE Systems Govan shipyard in Glasgow.

The semi-submersible barge will carry the 150m (492ft)-long ship to a deep water site in the west of Scotland where in the coming days it will be gently lowered into the water for the first time.

The £1.2bn warship will then be towed back upriver to BAE's Scotstoun site where "fitting out" work will continue to prepare the ship for delivery.
The journey was made at low tide so the ship could pass safely beneath the Erskine Bridge

David Shepherd, Type 26 programme director at BAE Systems, said it was a proud moment for thousands of people who had been involved in the ship's construction.

"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," he said.

BAE Systems abandoned traditional "dynamic" slipway launches on the Clyde 14 years ago in favour of the "float off" method.

The technique is more controlled and allows the vessel to be launched in a more complete state.

The first of the "City Class" Type 26 frigates, HMS Glasgow, was launched this way in late 2022.

Both HMS Glasgow and HMS Cardiff were built in sections with the forward and aft ends then joined together on the hardstanding beside the river.

Future vessels will be assembled within a huge new shipbuilding hall - dubbed a "frigate factory" - which is being built at the Govan shipyard.

The Janet Harvey building - named after a pioneering female apprentice who started work at the site during World War Two - is large enough to accommodate two Type 26 frigates side-by-side.

A new generation of Clyde shipbuilders are also being trained at a £12m shipbuilding academy that recently opened at Scotstoun.

Early steel fabrication work has started on the next ships, HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham, at the Govan site.

The eight Type 26 frigates are expected to enter service between 2028 and the mid-2030s. Their role will include protecting the aircraft carriers and Trident submarines.

The 137m (9,449ft) barge carrying HMS Glasgow is jointly owned by Scottish marine engineering firm Malin and Italy's Augustea and is one of the largest in Europe.