‘ I had a tour of submarine hunter frigate being built on River Clyde’

FROM the outside, standing underneath, the ship is a towering presence.

I have had a view of it from across the water at various stages of construction but up close, HMS Cardiff is gargantuan.

Deep in the darkness of the belly of the giant vessel, the inside is now taking shape with all the compartments being put in place, from the mechanics that will propel it through the sea, to the living quarters and operational areas soon to be kitted out with the latest military hardware.

I tried to picture it with the 150 to 200 crew on board doing all manner of naval tasks.

Walking through narrow corridors, climbing up and down ladders, stepping over raised doorways, below deck is a labyrinth, with what must be miles of piping and cabling running through the vessel.

No photographs are allowed due to security reasons, which is understandable given the ship’s purpose.

In the Visualisation Suite in the yard, we are shown the software that had modelled every single component of the ship and calculated measurements to ensure every piece of equipment can be used by every member of the crew.

In the gearbox room, a mass of pipes, valves and mechanical equipment understood only by those operating it is under construction. This will power the ship and like everything else on board has been designed to be as quiet as possible.

You can’t help but imagine what it would be like once finished and out at sea.

However Simon Lister doesn’t need to imagine. He has four decades of Royal Navy service where he was a Vice- Admiral before joining BAE Systems as managing director of Naval Ships.

It is difficult to get your head around how something of this size and complexity can come together, built to the exact detailed specifications needed to ensure it can operate effectively around the world.

When Mr Lister and his team explain later the scale of what the main task is, it starts to become clearer how it is achieved.

He said: “Integration. Seamless integration. That’s our job.”