UK’s first Type 26 frigate to hit the water later this year

UK’s first Type 26 frigate HMS Glasgow is due to enter the water for the first time later this year to complete fitting out at BAE Systems’ yard downstream on the Clyde at Scotstoun, according to the navy officials.

HMS Glasgow is the first in a new generation of Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates, designed and built in the ship’s namesake city.

UK defense company BAE Systems received a £3.7 billion contract back in 2017 for the construction of the first three vessels. 

Last October, the navy revealed that the construction of the first ship is sufficiently complete for the navy to begin assigning sailors to the vessel, while the HMS Glasgow’s bow was launched in April the same year.

HMS Glasgow is currently on the hard-standing at BAE Systems’ yard in Govan, where shipwrights, technicians and engineers are completing the hull and superstructure.

The trailblazers will produce the ship’s operators’ manual: determining how HMS Glasgow will be run, its routines, systems and sensors to make it an effective fighting force when the ship enters service later this decade.

The Type 26 frigates are advanced anti-submarine warships, which are expected to deliver critical protection of the Royal Navy’s Continuous At Sea Deterrent and Carrier Strike Group. The ships will replace the UK’s Type 23 frigates, with the first set to enter service in the mid-2020s.

Each Type 26 will be equipped with a range of world-class capabilities including the Sea Ceptor missile defence system, a 5-inch medium calibre gun, flexible mission bay, Artisan 997 Medium Range Radar, and towed array sonars.

The flight deck will be able to accommodate helicopters up to the size of a Chinook, while the mission bay can quickly adapt to house and deploy vessels, vehicles and containers, according to BAE Systems.

UK Government plans to procure the second batch of Type 26 frigates in the early 2020s.