RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Add your posts about Royal Navy ships in this section
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

Steel cut for first Type 31 frigate – HMS Venturer


At a ceremony in Rosyth today, the Defence Secretary (and ‘shipbuilding Tsar’) Ben Wallace conducted the first steel cutting, signalling the start of the Type 31 frigate construction programme.

HMS Venturer is scheduled to be structurally completed and in the water by 2023. All five Type 31s are planned to be delivered to the RN by 2028 with the final ship, operational by 2030. The design work has progressed well but the project is now entering the most challenging phase, promising to build major warships more rapidly than anything attempted in the UK for several decades. A respected defence journalist recently remarked to Navy Lookout “The next two years or so are crucial for Babcock – in cricketing parlance, they will have to hit straight sixes with every ball if they are going to deliver what they are contracted to do”.

The newly constructed assembly hall will be named ‘The Venturer Building’ after the lead ship of the programme. The 147m x 62m x 42m structure has space for two Type 31 frigates to be assembled in parallel and is part of a recent £60M investment in the facilities in Rosyth. A further £100M was spent over the last decade, primarily to support the construction of the aircraft carriers. Around 1,250 people will be employed on the programme at its height, including 150 apprenticeships, and a further 1,250 in the supply chain.

Type 31 has provided an opportunity to install new advanced new manufacturing equipment including panel lines with robotic welding capability, as well as other semi-automated machines at the site. Digital shipyard technology enabling a rapid design to manufacture process should create significant efficiencies in the build schedule.

The steel cutting ceremony comes just one week after Babcock announced that it had secured the first export contract for its Arrowhead 140 frigate through a design licence agreement with PT PAL Indonesia (Persero) for two frigates and the design has also been shortlisted for Poland’s Miecznik (Swordfish) frigate programme.

Another photo at - https://www.navylookout.com/steel-cut-f ... -venturer/
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

Type-31 Frigate Key to U.K. Royal Navy’s Growth - An American view

Steel for the U.K. Royal Navy’s first new Type 31 frigate was cut on Sept. 24, raising hopes that the service may secure a larger fleet of frontline warships in the long term.

With the fall in the total number of in-service frigates and destroyers in the Royal Navy, the service is expected to reach a record low of 16 to 17 hulls by the mid-late 2020s. The five Type 31 ‘Inspiration-class’ frigates are part of the drive to push the total back to more than 19.

The first ship, to be named HMS Venturer, is due to launch by 2023, with the next four on a drumbeat of one per year starting in 2024. Deliveries of all five ships are expected to be completed by 2028. Prime contractor Babcock is building the ships at its facility in Rosyth, Scotland.

During the steel cutting event, Second Sea Lord Vice Adm. Nick Hine tweeted optimistically: “They said we couldn’t do it – together with Babcock, conceived as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, contracted in 2019, steel cut in 2021 and all 5 delivered in under a decade.”

Given that most defense procurement programs experience some kind of cost increase and schedule delay, the projected timeline may not come to fruition. However, the Type 31 has made good progress in the last two years given the troubled start of the project – it failed its first attempt in July 2018, when no bidders could meet the $336 million unit price.

Continues at - https://news.usni.org/2021/09/30/type-3 ... Jzh1YbnSZc
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

Babcock announced this week that MTU has been selected to supply the main engines and generator sets for the Type 31 frigate


MTU is a German company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, employing more than 10,000 people but is a subsidiary of British-owned Rolls Royce Holdings Plc. They are a world leader in marine diesel manufacture and the RN’s engine supplier of choice. The decision to select MTU engines for Type 31 is no great surprise. The Danish Navy’s Iver-Huitfield class frigates that form the basis of the frigate’s design have near-identical 20V 8000 M70 engines.

See - https://www.navylookout.com/rolls-royce ... 1-frigate/
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

What weapons will be fitted to the Type 31 Frigate?


Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, stated in response to a written Parliamentary question:

“It is intended that the Type 31 frigate will be equipped with the Sea Ceptor missile system and will be equipped with one Bofors 57mm Mk3 and two Bofors 40mm naval guns, in addition to a range of highly advanced weapon and sensor systems.

These include a sophisticated combat system with 4D air and surface surveillance, target indication radar and the capability to operate a Merlin or Wildcat helicopter.”

Recently, Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace cut the first steel for the first of the Royal Navy’s five new Type 31 frigates, HMS Venturer.

Continues at - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/what-we ... UiSrLA1KfE
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

Navy Lookout


Adm Tony Radakin tells Commons Defence that the Type 31 frigates will be fitted for but not with (FFBNW) Mk41 VLS launchers.
“Part of the lethality debate. Particularly around the Surface to Surface weapon - do we extend that to include T31”


Also see - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-n ... x5DWyrA-q4
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

Babcock complete ‘frigate factory’ in Rosyth

The shipbuilding facility will be able to build two frigates at the same time.
Babcock also unveiled plans to recruit 500 workers for its Type 31 frigate programme as the build of its new state-of-the-art assembly hall, known as ‘the Venturer Building’ is completed at its Rosyth site.

Continues, with photos and video at - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/babcock ... 3WBr7tfKuU
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

In focus: the Bofors 40mm Mk 4 gun that will equip the Type 31 frigates

The Type 31 frigates will introduce two guns types new to Royal Navy service. In the first of two articles examining these weapons, we look at the Bofors 40mm Mk 4 gun.

See - https://www.navylookout.com/in-focus-th ... JT5cA2W1Ic
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
ivorthediver
Posts: 3659
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:42 pm
Location: Cambridge Shore Battery

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by ivorthediver »

Sounds like a good fit out , lets hope it is adopted eh ....
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

ivorthediver wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 8:54 pm Sounds like a good fit out , lets hope it is adopted eh ....
Time will tell Ivor, I wonder what the other one will be.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
User avatar
Pelican
Posts: 9746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:10 pm

Re: RN Frigates: Type 31 Inspiration Class

Unread post by Pelican »

New images show how the Type 31 Frigate will look

These images show how the Type 31 ‘Inspiration Class’ Frigate will look and they’re more up to date than the imagery we’ve shown recently.
The images show the vessel in a wide range of roles.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/new-ima ... 4lg18lnuuQ
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Royal Navy”