Babcock International marked two major milestones at its Rosyth facility on 9 December 2025 with the keel laid for Formidable, the UK’s third Type 31 frigate, a new contract was announced with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the United States’ largest military shipbuilder, to support the US Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) from the site.
The Type 31 (T31) programme will see five general-purpose frigates delivered to the UK’s Royal Navy within 10 years of Babcock receiving the contract in November 2019. During the keel-laying ceremony on 9 December the first modular section of the ship was carefully positioned on top of a coin: a traditional symbol of good fortune for the ship and its crew.
The same day Babcock announced an expansion to its strategic partnership with HII that will see the company put its advanced manufacturing expertise to use, supporting complex submarine assemblies for the Virginia-class SSN programme from Rosyth, further growing support for the US submarine fleet from the Scottish site, which already delivers missile tube assemblies for US and UK programmes.
Sir Nick Hine, chief executive of Babcock’s Marine sector, was quoted in a company press release as stating, “This is an important week in the history of Rosyth. As the keel of HMS Formidable is laid in this vital and fast-paced UK defence programme, our advanced design and build capability will also now support the delivery of the US Virginia-class submarines: a critical component of the AUKUS trilateral partnership between Australia, the US and the UK.
“Our workforce here in Rosyth is delivering some of the most advanced international defence programmes, driving economic growth and providing highly skilled jobs to our surrounding communities here in Scotland.”
Commander Thomas Hetherington, the Royal Navy’s Senior Naval Officer for lead Type 31 ship Venturer and the rest of the class, added, “HMS Formidable’s keel-laying ceremony marks a significant milestone in the T31 Project’s relentless progress in delivering the Royal Navy’s Inspiration class to operations. The ceremony blends the tradition of marking the birth of a ship with the undoubted technological advances that have been used in designing and building her for the extremely complex environment she will sail in. The third of five ships, HMS Formidable will help modernise the Royal Navy’s frigate fleet and enhance the lived experience for our sailors as they continue to deliver on operations across the globe.”
