The Council on Geostrategy’s maritime magazine The Broadside has highlighted a new article from The Signal, William Freer’s monthly newsletter, examining the United Kingdom’s recent progress in naval exports, deployments, and industrial recovery, UK Defence Journal reports.
In the latest edition, Freer argues that after decades of underinvestment, Britain’s shipbuilding industry is beginning to show tangible results. He points to the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the recapitalisation of the Royal Navy’s fleet as overdue but now producing dividends.
Freer writes that export success has been central to this revival, with the Type 26 frigate design selected by Canada and Australia, and the Type 31 exported to Indonesia and Poland. Together, these agreements will see 26 British-designed ships built abroad, often with British components.
The breakthrough, he notes, came in August when Norway announced its choice of the Type 26 for a £10 billion programme, with the ships to be built on the Clyde. “These five warships will be the first escorts a British shipyard has built to a foreign order since Argentina ordered Type 42s in 1970,” he observed, calling it the end of a “damning 55-year hiatus.”
The article also surveys Royal Navy activity, including the reassembly of Carrier Strike Group 2025 in East Asia, the continuation of towed array patrol duties, and evidence of Astute-class submarine operations.
Freer’s central message is that Britain’s recent progress demonstrates the dividends of even modest investment. He argues that “if Britain can get such dividends from these tentative steps towards remembering its maritime strategic culture, imagine what it could do if it applied itself with more vigour.”
The full article can be read on The Broadside, the Council on Geostrategy’s online magazine of maritime affairs produced in cooperation with the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. Readers can find out more and sign up here.
