Why the world’s navies are queuing for sub-hunters built on the Clyde

This £10bn deal for the ships, each weighing about 7,000 tonnes, was also a huge boost for BAE Systems, which will build the ships at its Govan and Scotstoun yards on the Clyde, as well as for many subcontractors around the UK. Babcock International’s shipyard at Rosyth in Fife is also bidding for a contract to build four frigates for the Danish navy, worth more than £1bn.

The Type 26 design has been licensed to Australia, which wants six ships and Canada, which wants up to 15. Taken together with the eight ships on order for the Royal Navy, that means that more than 30 of this class of ships are likely to be built, with the potential for further orders.

Why has the ship done so well? The Type 26 frigate was designed to find and destroy submarines. Highly classified techniques were used to quieten the ship, along with high-precision machining, to dampen any vibration. This gave it a significant advantage against the American, German and French competitors seeking the Norwegian order.

The UK had another critical advantage. With Russian activity in the North Sea and North Atlantic increasing, Norway wants the ships delivered by 2029. The British were best placed to offer this commitment. While no announcement has yet been made, it is likely that either the third ship in the UK series, designated as HMS Belfast, or the fourth, HMS Birmingham, will be diverted to Norway, with deliveries beyond that interleaved for each navy.

Achieving the expansion in capacity will not be easy. BAE must increase its drumbeat of shipbuilding from one ship delivered every 18 months to one a year by 2030, and its systems suppliers will also have to keep up.

Fortunately, BAE and its suppliers have already started. A covered yard has been built at Govan, increasing productivity, and an academy established alongside to train a new generation of heavy engineering specialists.

Construction of ship blocks may be shared with Ferguson Marine, also on the Clyde, as well as Cammell Laird on Merseyside and A&P on the Tyne, both of which have worked on the existing orders.

Subsystems suppliers have been supported to handle higher volumes. A ground testbed at David Brown Santasalo in Huddersfield will help develop and test the complex gearboxes made for the ships.

The company is likely to supply the Australian and Canadian navies too.

It’s a similar story at GE’s electric motor plant in Rugby, where the factory was in danger of closure from lack of work, until the previous government ordered the entire run of motors for the Type 26 engines to give the factory a breathing space and the workforce time. That decision has now come good.

Other suppliers, such as Rolls-Royce with its MT30 gas turbines made in Bristol and Derby, and MTU with its German diesel engines, are also likely to benefit.

This deal has the status of an agreement between governments, and BAE has yet to hold detailed negotiations with the Norwegians. With much still to be decided, it’s too early to be precise about the exact impact on profits and jobs that will flow from the deal.

But the signs are it will underpin UK naval shipbuilding well into the 2040s.

UK defence manufacturing contributes more than £10bn to the economy – accounting for about 0.5% of UK economic output. That looks set to grow, but it won’t be clear until 2030 if the 4,000 jobs dangled by the government on the Clyde and in supply chains materialise.

This is certain: in a topsy-turvy world where the unexpected has become commonplace, a huge British shipbuilding win seems to fit the trend.

Photograph by Iain Masterton/Alamy