Clyde made in Portsmouth

?HMS Clyde?, the first ship to be built in Portsmouth Naval Base for nearly 40 years, will be named at VT Shipbuilding?s facilities on Thursday, 7 September. The Royal Navy?s new 80 metre Offshore Patrol Vessel (Helicopter) is the first ship constructed in the naval base since 1967 when the Leander Class frigate ?HMS Andromeda? was built

The catalyst for this renaissance in shipbuilding was the move in 2003 of VT Shipbuilding to the £50 million state-of-the-art facilities which are among the most advanced in Europe. VT is building sections of the Royal Navy?s new Type 45 destroyer at Portsmouth but ?HMS Clyde? is the first complete ship to emerge from the giant assembly halls at the site.

The new OPV(H) will be the patrol ship for the Falkland Islands and will be officially accepted by the MOD next month before she is deployed to the South Atlantic next spring, around the time of the 25th anniversary of the conflict.

One of the unique features of the ship is that she is owned by VT Group and chartered to the Ministry of Defence for a period of five years. At the end of that period, the MoD can extend the charter, return the ship or purchase her outright. The same principle is used for three similar River Class vessels already in service and built by VT. They are used for fishery protection work around the UK coast.

Among the ship?s enhanced features compared to the River Class is a flight deck capable of accepting helicopters up to the size of the new Merlin aircraft. Other enhancements include increased accommodation to cater for an embarked force, a 30mm gun, higher levels of survivability and state of the art air surveillance radar.