Work began yesterday Friday the 9th of October, on the third and final ship in the trio, HMS Trent, at the BAE yard in Govan as defence procurement Philip Dunne pressed the button to start a plasma cutter at work on sheets of steel.
HMS Forth is already 50 per cent assembled in the neighbouring ship hall – her engines and pipes have now been fitted – and will be complete outwardly by the year’s end. Work piecing together HMS Medway will began in the same building before 2015 is out.
Despite the River-class title, the trio are much closer to patrol ships BAE built for the Thai and Brazilian Navies than Tyne, Mersey, Severn and Clyde – although there are 28 enhancements, such as a stronger flight deck (so a Merlin can use it) and installing BAE’s new command system.
The 800 or so shipwrights and engineers involved with the trio are using lessons from the construction of blocks for carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.
And work on the three ships will act as a stepping stone towards building the Type 26s, the successors to the Type 23 frigates, which begins next year.
“It doesn’t matter whether we building one of the biggest ships we have ever built, or the smallest – pride seeps through all the team. People in this business are very proud to be building warships,” said Iain Stevenson, overseeing the construction of all three River-class ships.
HMS Forth is due to join the Fleet in 2017, followed shortly afterwards by her younger sisters.
Image Sourced: Royal Navy