This afternoon I attended a talk at the Fairfield heritage centre in Govan, the former offices of the Fairfield Ship building yard and now a museum dedicated to the history of the yard, now known as BAE Systems Govan.
It was by coincidence the day that HMS Glasgow was cantered into position from the location of her assembly to align with the barge that will be used to transport her down river to Loch Long where she will be floated off and towed back up the river to BAE Systems at Scotstoun for fitting out in dry dock.
The talk was presented by the commander in build of the ship Commander Phil Burgess who gave a very informative, humorous add enthusiastic talk about the ship, which in his words will be the most advanced anti-submarine frigate in the world, designed to track down and ‘deal with’ enemy submarines. He explained that each generation of ship was a significant leap technologically than the previous and there are few countries now not only capable of building but also capable of financing such projects and that the design IP had been sold to the Canadian and Australian navies both of who will be building significant numbers of these ships with their own standards of armament but using components such as gear boxes etc. from British manufacturers, indeed a map shown illustrated the scope of sub suppliers employed to produce parts for the ship as being spread right across the UK, with some elements being supplied from European and American companies.
The ship will use a Rolls Royce Trent Gas Turbine as part of its power plant which will allow her to exceed 30 knots whilst remaining virtually silent so she cant be tracked down by the enemy. Whilst deployment of the vessel is clearly a matter for the global situation at the time she becomes operational, if she were to be delivered today she would certainly be of interest to Russian and Chinese forces and they to her!
Glasgow will be moved onto the barge tomorrow where the cradle holding her will be welded to the barge’s deck, a process that will take 3-4 days and it is planned to tow the ship down river in the middle of next week (no final times as yet as for obvious reasons they don’t want to draw huge crowds to the side of the river).
She will be towed to Loch long which of course if well sheltered (and largely out of the public gaze) where the barge will be submerged, and the ship will float off. She will then be towed to Scotstoun for fitting out. She will be named in 2024 by the Princess of Wales and after completion and handover she will be based in Plymouth where she will receive her arsenal of armament, sonars etc. It is anticipated that she will be ready for service in 2028.
HMS Cardiff will be moved out in three sections next at Govan and assembled in the same was that Glasgow was. Whilst this is taking place the wet basin next to the yard will be filled in and a large assembly shed built so that future ships can be assembled in one piece and undercover, and, two at a time making the yard much more efficient. It is thought the third ship, Belfast will be assembled in the new facility. The process of moving the ship down river by use of the barge will be exactly the same however.
We will keep our eye on the movement of the vessel over the next week or so and hopefully we will be able to share whatever photos we can on our Firth of Clyde Maritime Scene Facebook Group. Seeing her in her current position was quite strange, its as if they had tried to back her into the building shed again!. Once she is gone, the built sections of Cardiff will be visible.
Scotland's Maritime Scene 