First Royal Navy Type 31 frigate to hit the water this year
HMS Venturer under construction at Babcock's Rosyth shipyard. (Photo: Royal Navy via Twitter/Crown Copyright)
The first of the Royal Navy’s future Inspiration-class Type 31 frigates, HMS Venturer, is scheduled to hit the water this year.
Its builder Babcock will deliver the first-in-class vessel to the UK MoD later in 2025.
Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge confirmed the dates in a recent response to a Parliamentary Question.
Venturer is scheduled to enter service with the RN two years after its delivery in 2027.
Since a contract for the vessels was signed in 2019, the MoD has agreed with Babcock to a £40 million increase in the overall programme cost due to the impact of COVID-19 and supply chain volatility.
This £40 million figure amounts to around 3% of the production cost of the ships, which,
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