First of British Royal Navy’s new frigates takes to the water

Scottish shipyards have orders to build 13 new naval frigates

HMS Glasgow is maneuvered on to a barge at the BAE Govan shipyard in Glasgow. PA

HMS Glasgow, the first of the British Royal Navy’s new frigates, sailed down the River Clyde for the first time on Wednesday.

The ship, which made the trip on a barge, was escorted by Ministry of Defence Police from the Clyde Marine Unit.

An order for 13 frigates has been placed with Scottish shipyards, with the Type 31 vessels being built by Babcock at Rosyth on the east coast and the Type 26 ships being constructed by BAE Systems on the Clyde.

Last week, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace visited the vessel in Glasgow while it was being rolled on to the barge.

“I think it’s a remarkable achievement by the workforce here, who’ve built basically the world’s leading anti-submarine warfare ship,” he told the PA news agency.

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Mr Wallace said the first Type 26 ship was coming out of the shipyard late but not “catastrophically” so, saying he is confident HMS Glasgow and the other frigates will enter service in time.

“The one thing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to have left after his illegal invasion is a navy and an air force,” he added.

“He uses his submarines — and they are good submarines — very well to intimidate.

“We’ve seen worries about critical national infrastructure, gas pipelines, internet cables. We need ships that are going to hunt those submarines or deter them, and that’s the role the ships are going to take.”

Both the HMS Cardiff and the HMS Belfast are still under construction in Glasgow and are the Royal Navy’s second and third vessels.

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