The second of an eventual eight-strong fleet of Type 26 frigates being manufactured for the UK Royal Navy is continuing its build at BAE Systems’ Clyde shipyards, with HMS Cardiff following the development timeline of first-in-class, HMS Glasgow.
Providing an update to the Type 26 programme in a UK parliamentary written response on 22 April, UK Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle outlined that following the steel-cut ceremony for HMS Sheffield in November 2024, five of the eight planned frigates are now under construction.
Of the four vessels in more advanced stages of the build process, HMS Glasgow and second-in-class HMS Cardiff are in drydock at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Scotstoun for outfitting, while unit and block assembly on HMS Belfast (third-in-class) and HMS Birmingham (fourth-in-class) continues.
“HMS Glasgow is forecast to achieve Initial Operating Capability [IOC] in 2028, with construction of all eight frigates expected to be complete by the mid-2030s,” Eagle stated.
The IOC target of 2028 stated on 21 April appears to be an implicit correction from a 7 April written response regarding UK Royal Navy frigate programmes, where Eagle said the first of the Type 26 frigates was scheduled to enter service “commencing from 2029”.
It has been widely anticipated that HMS Glasgow will begin initial operations in 2028, having previously been reported as likely to achieve this target in Q4 that year. However, parliamentary written response can be updated corrected where mistakes are noted by colleagues, with the 7 April 2029 timeline answer still standing as originally published.
HMS Cardiff joined HMS Glasgow in drydock for further build work in September 2024.
Type 26 frigates: RN expects three before 2030
The Royal Navy states that the first three Type 26 frigates (HMS Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast) are expected to enter the fleet before 2030, with a further five warships (HMS Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London) joining after 2030.
Despite steel being cut on HMS Glasgow as far back as 2017, and government officials initially claiming an expected in-service date in the mid-2020s, the timeline now suggest a more than ten-year long process to deliver the first-in-class Type 26 into service.
Second-in-class HMS Cardiff saw steel cut in 2019, around two years after HMS Glasgow, with both vessels entering water for the first time around five years after the start of manufacturing.
With first steel cut of HMS Belfast occurring in 2021, it is likely that the third Type 26 will not enter the water until 2026 ahead of drydocking for outfitting.
The eight Type 26 frigates will replace eight of the ageing Type 23 frigates currently in service in the crucial anti-submarine warfare role. The remaining five general purpose Type 23 frigates are being replaced by five new Type 31 frigates, also currently in-build.
