Cash saved as five new
NAVY chiefs have saved the taxpayer millions after completing an ambitious £690m project to build five new warships under budget.
Top brass managed to make £44m worth of savings on the programme to construct Britain’s new fleet of offshore patrol ships.
The revelation was made as the Royal Navy formally welcomed the last vessel in the scheme into service.
HMS Spey raised the White Ensign for the first time during a closed-doors ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base today.
Spey and her four sister ships, HMS Medway, HMS Forth, HMS Trent and HMS Tamar, were all built in six years.
Speaking about the offshore patrol vessel (OPV) programme, a Royal Navy spokesman said: ‘ The OPV programme, which has achieved around £44m of savings against its original approved cost of £690m, is completing on time and within budget thanks to effective collaboration between the MoD and industry.
‘At its peak, it has sustained about 1,400 jobs within BAE Systems, including more than 200 apprentices, and delivered a supply chain spend of almost £240m to more than 150 suppliers across the UK and Europe.’
No guests were invited to watch HMS Spey change her Blue Ensign for white – a symbolic gesture marking her entrance into naval service.
Only essential personnel were on board the ship, which is expected to depart Portsmouth next month for the first time.
Spey’s first captain, Lieutenant Commander Ben Evans, said: ‘It is such a privilege to lead Spey’s complement through the
coming trials and training programme and bring her to operational status.
‘In spite of the considerable disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Royal Navy has received the fifth and final offshore patrol vessel and our job now is to prepare ourselves and Spey for whatever operations we are assigned.’
Spey will still need to complete a series of safety checks and a month-long training serial at sea before being formally commissioned into the fleet like her sisters HMS Tamar and Trent did last year.
They are both on current operations in UK waters, Trent having returned from her second deployment to the Mediterranean.
The first two batch two River-class ships, HMS Medway and Forth are both on patrol tasks in the north and south Atlantic respectively.