As a historic port, Cardiff has long had special ties with the Royal Navy and illustrious ships have carried the city’s name around the world for more than 400 years.
Now the fourth HMS Cardiff has taken a significant step towards completion, watched by a party of dignitaries from the city with which it is now affiliated.
At the end of July, Lord Mayor Cllr Bablin Molik, Morfudd Meredith, the Lord Lieutenant of South Glamorgan and Honorary Captain Raj Aggarwal, the Honorary Consul to India in Wales, accepted an invitation from BAE Systems and Brigadier Jock Fraser, the Naval Regional Commander for Wales, Western England and the Channel Islands, to visit the shipyard in Glasgow to see how HMS Cardiff is taking shape.
Workers there completed the process of joining the two sections of the ship together, a key stage in its construction. Now, there will be further structural work at Govan before she is rolled on to a barge ready to be floated off and transferred to Scotstoun for fitting out. Here, she will join her sister ship, HMS Glasgow, which is undergoing completion.
By 2028, when HMS Cardiff is expected to be ready for operational duties, the Type 26 frigate will become the second of the Royal Navy’s next generation of submarine hunters. In addition to these duties, she will also be able to fend off air attack with Sea Ceptor missiles, hit targets ashore with a new main five-inch gun, conduct disaster relief operations and host drone, mine-hunting and Royal Marine operations.
Cllr Molik said: “Our city had strong links and a lasting friendship with the former HMS Cardiff and we are extremely proud that one of the Royal Navy’s next generation of submarine hunters will also bear the capital’s name.
“We look forward to strengthening Cardiff’s ties with both the Royal Navy and the new HMS Cardiff in years to come.”
Previous generations of HMS Cardiff:
- The first HMS Cardiff was a 34-gun ship captured from the Dutch in 1652. It was sold six years later
- In 1917, the name was given to a C-class light cruiser that fought in the Second Battle of Heligoland Blight during the First World War. She was broken up in 1946 after serving as a training ship in the Second World War
- The third HMS Cardiff was launched in 1974 and was involved in both the Falklands Conflict and the Gulf Wars. She was decommissioned in 2005
- The ship’s motto is Agris in Cardine rerum’ – ‘Keen in emergency’
