Nothing quite prepares you for your first close-up encounter with warships being fitted out for the fray. At BAE Systems Scotstoun yard on the Upper Clyde, two of them sit patiently at repose: massive grey, metal beasts sitting patiently as 100 skilled crafters and fitters swarm in and around them for their call to arms.
These are HMS Cardiff and HMS Glasgow, a pair of Royal Navy Type 26 frigates as big as destroyers with submarine-hunting capability. It’s only when you stand a few feet away that you get a sense of the scale of these vessels. At their highest point they reach the height of a three-storey building. You could fit a couple of football pitches from hull to stern. When complete, they will weigh in at 6,900 tonnes and extend along 149 metres and form the backbone of the Royal Navy’s surface presence on the high seas.
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Equally as breath-taking is the design, engineering and unerring craftsmanship that makes these warships. Perhaps ‘breath-taking’ isn’t quite the word you find yourself looking for; so let’s try ‘stirring’.
The greatest ships in the world have been built on this stretch of the Clyde for more than 160 years. Lately though, we’ve known about the decline of the yards that made this place renowned across the world. That and the embarrassment of watching your country struggling to build a single passenger ferry gnawed at Scotland’s soul.
We all held a special place in our hearts for our miners and our steelworkers and our fishermen, appreciating the dangers they faced and the sheer physical toil involved in maintaining working-class communities and the nation’s manufacturing and production output. When the lights began to go out in these places, the rest of Scotland shared their grief.
We felt this too with our shipyards, but there was something else: sheer pride in the skills of the shipbuilders and in the knowledge that Clyde-built was a globally recognised kite-mark denoting quality and excellence. At one time more than 40% of the world’s ships were built in these yards. In the Greater Glasgow area if your family didn’t include a shipyard worker then you knew another that did.
You experience a wee bat-squeak of emotion watching these men and women deploying skills and graft that you thought had disappeared for good. You’re proud to see big Champions League-class boats rising up before your eyes and to know that your own people are making them.
HMS Glasgow is the first of eight Type 26 frigates being built by BAE Systems for the Royal Navy. Its pedigree is in the name. At last year’s naming ceremony, carried out by Princess Anne, Vice Admiral Sir Martin Connell, Second Sea Lord, said this: “From the first ever HMS Glasgow, sailing under the Royal Navy flag at the end of the 17th century, to the ship we see here in the 21st century, HMS Glasgow has evolved and adapted to meet the warfighting and operational demands of its day. The result of this are 11 battle honours. HMS Glasgow’s pedigree is awe-inspiring.”
The yard is basking in another triumph announced last month. BAE Systems secured a £10 billion deal with Norway to supply five Type 26 frigates, specialising in anti-submarine warfare. The deal’s significance extends much further than this, though.
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It’s the UK’s largest-ever warship export and will see the vessels constructed entirely in BAE’s twin Glasgow shipyards at Scotstoun and Govan. This along with the eight ships for the Royal Navy will provide secure, well-paid employment for 2,000 skilled workers for up to 15 years. It’s also expected to boost productivity for more than 400 UK companies.
In the shadow of these two frigates taking shape behind us Sven Hanssen, Manufacturing & Operations Director for BAE Systems Maritime is talking me through the impact of the numbers. Some of his colleagues had told me beforehand that Mr Hanssen, a graduate of Strathclyde University, was key to securing the Norway deal. He’s a native of Norway, but speaks with the passion and pride of a true Glaswegian.
“I know how much pride this community takes from its ship-building heritage,” he says. “What’s happening here is a great West of Scotland industrial success story after so much negativity. People need to be aware of the scale of what’s happening here.
“When people see the successful completion of these orders they will be so proud. We can’t restore the scale of shipbuilding there once was on the Clyde but we’re certainly restoring our former reputation of being master shipbuilders. Our two yards, here and in Govan, are the only ones left on the Upper Clyde.”
He takes particular pleasure in the skills academy, opened a year ago and reviving and updating the engineering skills and trades that made Scotland one of the world’s industrial power-houses. “What’s happening in our academy delights me,” he says. “When I look at the trade apprentices coming in here I see a bright future ahead for them and their families and their communities.
“The Norway deal will secure work here for 15 years. When was last time that happened? These young men and women are so stitched on, much more so than when I was their age. They’re coming in to well-paid, secure jobs. What more can you ask for?”
It’s impossible to over-state the psychological and cultural benefits arising from this place. The young people who’ve landed a job here will become elite-level designers, engineers and tradespeople. They will inspire many others in their communities who will see one of their own doing something vital and real. It taps into the local pride that’s always come from working in a shipyard on the River Clyde.
The building process for each of these ship involves its structure being completed in Govan where skilled teams of fabricators and steelworkers construct the units. They’re then assembled into two main blocks which are joined together before the ship departs. This will now take place in the new Janet Harvey Hall.
“The work then moves to Scotstoun where the vessel’s outfit is completed and the complex systems are installed before we take it out to for its sea trials,” Mr Hanssen adds. “These will last for around 40 days when we put the ship through its paces. After making any necessary adjustments, we then head back out for a second trial before the handover.”
To tour the BAE skills academy which forms the gateway to the yards is to hear the sounds and witness the memories of Glasgow’s great industrial and manufacturing heritage brought back to life.
This £12m state-of-the-art training facility is providing life-long learning to an entire workforce handpicked and then reared in the city’s ship-building traditions.
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Scott, the Academy Learning and Development lead lists the old trades and skills being taught here to 200 apprentices. “We’re training fabricators and steelworkers; welders and pipe-fitters; sheet metal workers, electricians, joiners and painters.
“But we’ve calibrated the facility to keep pace with modern technology and to fit it out with a sustainable programme for future employment, including HR, Finance and budget management. We run 39 different programmes offering many routes into the sector. We created this space to build our future workforce for the Type 26 programme. The best way to do that is to build your own workforce, but also to attract local people who are steeped in Glasgow’s shipbuilding tradition.
“We want to invest in something that has a future and tells a story of how ships gets built, engineered and designed and the sheer scale of it. We use this entrance area to bring in schools and community groups. It’s our way of telling them that what goes on here belongs to them.”
Camilla, a Product Lifecycle manager, is involved in the ship’s designing from the beginning to the end of its lifespan, a period of around 40 years. “I feel a sense of purpose here that I wouldn’t get with any other company or sector. Knowing it has an impact on the rest of the world and on your local community is rewarding. I knew as soon as I went into my interview for this position that it was for me. The culture is fantastic and I love the people.
She’s one of many women at the heart of this operation, but in an environment which has always been regarded as predominantly and perhaps aggressively, male. “We have a very inclusive culture in here and we are treated with respect. We’re also supported in challenging certain behaviours. I feel respected here.”
Jenny is a Higher apprentice working for an HNC and HND. She’s one of several apprentices I meet today who are sprung from families immersed in Glasgow’s shipbuilding traditions. “My grandfather was a chief engineer in the merchant navy and his dad before him. My dad works in the maritime industry,” she tells me.
“When I left school I attended university, but it was during Covid and I found the online learning experience dispiriting. When I met a couple of the boys from the yards they told me what was happening here. BAE is a big name around here and you can’t miss it. It’s valued and respected and I feel that too.”
In the trades hall the size of an aircraft hangar the sound of big metal tools striking big metal objects is curiously satisfying. In a welder’s booth a scarlet halo settles around a welder going about his business. And I’m feeling privileged at being granted this glimpse of Glasgow’s heavy industrial past restored to life and to its vibrant future.
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