The Royal Navy’s first-in-class Type 31 frigate, HMS Venturer, has officially rolled out from the build hall at Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard — a major milestone in the £1.25 billion Inspiration-class program. From UK Defence Journal.
The operation (27 May 2025) saw the 5,700-tonne vessel emerge for the first time from the purpose-built Venturer Building, where she has been under construction since 2021. The event marks the transition from structural assembly to the next critical phases: float-off, combat systems integration, and sea trials.
Sir Nick Hine KCB, Chief Executive of Babcock’s Marine division, spoke to me about the project and described the roll-out as a landmark moment for the programme.
“We’ll take her from where she is behind us on the hard standing, we’ll put her on the barge, and we’ll take her into dock. She’ll be in dock in the next sort of 10 days or so. And we put her into dock because that’s the best place to do more fit-out work. So we’ll fit her out over the next sort of six to nine months. And then once we’ve done that, we’ll look to start vessel acceptance, and we hope to start having that done in the next sort of 12 months — handover to the Navy. I mean, I’d hand her over to the Navy as quickly as we can.”
After entering the dock in the coming days, Venturer will begin an intensive fitting-out period in No. 3 dry dock, where her main sensor mast, weapons systems, and mission equipment will be installed. Much of her internal outfitting has already been completed under cover. The roll-out was intentionally postponed to allow more interior work to be completed in a controlled environment — a decision aimed at improving efficiency and quality.
The ship will be placed on the CD01 barge, the same submersible platform that was used to float HMS Glasgow and HMS Cardiff into the water on the Clyde. Once Venturer is on board, the barge will submerge and lower the ship into the water. She will then be moved a short distance across the basin to begin her final outfitting phase.
Integration of her combat systems will now begin in earnest.
