HMS Clyde becomes first ship built in Portsmouth for nearly 40 years

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The first complete ship to be built in Portsmouth Naval Base for nearly 40 years has been loaded out from the VT Shipbuilding assembly hall today, Wednesday, June 14 2006.

HMS Clyde is carefully loaded onto the tractor conveyor units in the VT Shipbuilding assembly hall, Portsmouth.
[Pictures courtesy of VT]

The launching of the 80m Offshore Patrol Vessel Helicopter (OPVH), HMS Clyde, marked the renaissance of shipbuilding at the Base turning the clock back to the launch of the Leander Class frigate HMS Andromeda in May 1967.

HMS Clyde, which weighed some 1300 tons at the moment of lift, was carefully loaded onto tractor conveyor units and transported some 100 yards to the barge "VT Woolston" moored adjacent to the main VT shipbuilding hall. After the ship was slowly wheeled onto the barge, the sea fastenings were welded in place to secure her. The barge was then moved to the neighbouring dock 14, where pumping out some 64,000 tons of water began immediately in an operation expected to take about four hours.

Once the barge and ship are sitting on the bottom, the sea fastenings can be disconnected and the ship freed from the barge. The following day the dock will be refilled with water, with the ship floating up free of the barge as the water level rises.

The barge, pumped full of ballast, will remain on the bottom of the filled dock and HMS Clyde will be towed out into the adjoining basin while the dock is pumped out again and the ballast removed from the barge. The dock is then refilled with water, with the barge floating up in unison before being returned to the main basin. HMS Clyde will then be towed back into the dock where she will be completed over the next few months.

The painstaking operation is expected to take almost 48 hours and has been meticulously planned by VT specialists who will be launching a ship in this way for the first time, although similar methodology was used to transport the first of the bow sections for the new Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer.

HMS Clyde on the barge "VT Woolston".
[Pictures courtesy of VT]

Prior to the launch VT Portsmouth Shipbuilding Facility Managing Director Francis Paonessa said:

"The Type 45 bow move went extremely smoothly and gave us invaluable experience in this type of major engineering challenge. We have put a considerable amount of planning into this operation and we are sure that HMS Clyde will be a splendid sight as she leaves the assembly hall for the first time.

"It will be a hugely different operation to the last time a ship was launched in the Naval Base but it promises to be an historic occasion as shipbuilding returns to the Base for the first time in nearly 40 years."

Final fitting out of HMS Clyde and setting to work her machinery will take place over the next three months before she is officially named in September. Sea trials will follow and she is scheduled for hand-over in late October. The ship is expected to be on station in the South Atlantic by Summer next year.

VT OPV (H) Project Manager Richard Labone added:

"The quality of the River Class and the comprehensive support package that we provide mean that the RN can concentrate on operational requirements while VT conducts the more in depth maintenance and support activities."

HMS Clyde is an enhanced River Class design with a helicopter deck capable of accepting helicopters up to the size of the new Merlin aircraft, increased accommodation to cater for an embarked force, a 30mm gun, higher levels of survivability and surveillance radar. The new design is built with increased watertight subdivisions for a higher level of survivability, and incorporates active fin stabilisers to improve seakeeping and expand the operating envelope for helicopter operations.

She will accommodate a crew of 36 (six officers, nine senior rates and 21 junior rates), berthed in single or twin berth cabins with en suite facilities. There will be additional accommodation for up to 20 extra personnel, which could be an embarked military force, trainees or headquarters staff.

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