Babcock International Group has started a post-life extension (LIFEX) on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS ARGYLL at their Devonport facility. It is the first Type 23 toundergo a post-LIFEX upkeep, adopting a new approach to re-certification at the facility’s Frigate Support Centre (FSC), the company writes in a press release.

Babcock is to overhaul equipment and carry out design changes for new capabilities such as communications upgrades and mixed crewing. The DUKE Class frigate is also planned receive a full spray coat of paint the outer bottom and ship side.

The vessel is being prepared for a Lloyds structural survey to achieve an early full ship assessment in several weeks. Commissioned in 1991, HMS ARGYLL is the longest-serving Type 23 frigate and was the first to undergo upkeep within the LIFEX programme in 2015.

JH