HMS Cardiff, the second of eight Type 26 City Class frigates BAE Systems is building for the Royal Navy, is entering water for the first time.

A team of engineering specialists transferred the ship – which has Welsh singing star Katherine Jenkins as her official sponsor – from the shipyard slipway to a barge to begin the float-off process.

HMS Cardiff has now departed BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard on the barge to be towed down river to a deep-water location in the West of Scotland. Once in position, and over a number of hours, the barge will submerge and the anti-submarine warfare frigate will enter the water. She will then return to BAE Systems’ Scotstoun shipyard where she will undergo the next stages of outfit before test and commissioning.

David Shepherd, Type 26 Programme Director, BAE Systems, said:

“Seeing the latest ship in the water for the first time will be a proud and exciting moment for the thousands of people involved in this great national endeavour.

“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.”

Pat Browning, Type 26 Team Leader, Defence Equipment & Support, said:

“We are delighted to have reached this key milestone in the build programme for HMS Cardiff. This is a significant achievement for the entire Type 26 programme team and is a moment we can all be proud of, as we continue to work towards delivering the new fleet of the Royal Navy’s most cutting-edge anti-submarine warfare frigates.”

The float off process is a more modern, efficient and low risk way for a ship to enter the water, compared to the previous dynamic launches where ships were slid down a slipway into the water. The float off process was used for the first-of-class, HMS Glasgow, in November 2022 as well as the five Offshore Patrol Vessels, which BAE Systems also built in Glasgow, the last of which was delivered to the Royal Navy in 2020.

Engineers from the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence Equipment & Support, as well as members of the Royal Navy, will also support the float off process. 

Of the other three Type 26 vessels under construction, HMS Glasgow is undergoing the outfit of its combat and mission systems at Scotstoun and HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham are under construction at Govan.

The build process for each ship involves its structure being completed in Govan where skilled teams of fabricators and steelworkers construct the units before they are assembled into two main blocks which are joined together externally on the hardstanding before the ship departs. HMS Cardiff will be the last Type 26 to have this initial work partly constructed outside, as the new multi-million pound shipbuild hall in Govan will enable the teams to complete the structures of the remaining frigates indoors.

In Scotstoun, the ship’s outfit is completed and the complex systems are installed before test and commissioning takes place. As the first ship in class, HMS Glasgow is expected to enter service in 2028.

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