Milestone in Royal Navy Type 26 programme

The ceremony, held at BAE System’s shipyard in Govan yesterday (14th August), on the River Clyde, marks a milestone in the programme for the Global Combat Ship programme.

Minister for Defence Procurement, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, pressed the button to start the plasma-cutting machine to work on a plate of steel which will form part of the unit which holds stores.

Cardiff is the second of the City class, following Glasgow, which is currently being built. The other six will be called Belfast, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, London and Edinburgh.

All eight T26s will replace the dedicated submarine-hunting Type 23 frigates, while the general duty 23s will be retired in favour of the Type 31e class, still being designed.

The 26s will carry Sea Ceptor missiles, a five-inch medium calibre gun ands Artisan 997 medium-range radar.