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2017 to be ‘Year of the Navy’, MoD says
DB News: 04/01/2017 - 11:14
The Ministry of Defence has said that 2017 is set to be the year of the Royal Navy as it prepares to welcome new ships to the fleet, following one of its busiest years since the end of the Cold War.
The news comes after the Navy has been engaged with a number of important tasks in 2016, including: responding to Russian activity in the North Sea; English Channel and North Atlantic; supporting EU and NATO-led operations in the Mediterranean and Aegean; helping safeguard our overseas territories; and taking the fight to Daesh by leading a US Navy task force in the Gulf.
Key milestones in 2017 will include: HMS Queen Elizabeth, will sail from Rosyth, ready to conduct sea trials in summer and debut in Portsmouth later in the year; HMS Prince of Wales will enter the water for the first time in the summer as work on her continues and is due to be formally named in the autumn;
Design and Manufacture will begin on the multi-million pound Crowsnest, the early-warning ‘eyes in the sky’ system for the helicopters that will protect the new carriers;
In the summer, steel will be cut on the first of eight Type 26 frigates in Glasgow; the first of four Tide class tankers, RFA Tidespring – crucial for supporting the new aircraft carriers – will arrive from South Korea in the spring to undergo UK customisation work. Similarly, in the spring, the first of the Navy’s five next-generation patrol ships, HMS Forth will begin her sea trials.
Furthermore, the fourth Astute Class submarine will enter the water for its commissioning phase in spring; the keel for the seventh and final Astute-class submarine – as yet unnamed – will be laid in 2017 as work continues apace on the fifth and sixth, HMS Anson and HMS Agamemnon in Barrow; and the opening of the first permanent Royal Navy base East of Suez in nearly half a century.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon commented: “We are investing billions in growing the Royal Navy for the first time in a generation with new aircraft carriers, submarines, frigates, patrol vessels and aircraft all on their way. 2017 is the start of a new era of maritime power, projecting Britain’s influence globally and delivering security at home.”
