Page 91 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

Glasgow, a Type 42 air defence destroyer. There were capability presentations highlighting the namesake’s evolution to the Type 26 frigate, which then followed onto moving wartime reflections, and a Ship’s Tour. The evening saw a formal dinner and the exchange of a new trophy; shrapnel from the 1000lb bomb that punctured D88 HMS Glasgow’s engine room mounted on a hardwood wedge, a stark reminder of a warships purpose. The ’22 crew felt an enormous sense of the privilege to be the focal point for the community and pulled that pride through to leading the Remembrance Parade on the 13th of November.
In terms of the ship building, steady progress is being made. HMS Glasgow started the year on the hardstanding, where the lengthy process of furnishing her compartments with infrastructure (pipes, cables, lagging etc.) started and remains ongoing. There is no wasted space on the warship, and each area is packed with servers, networking equipment, machinery and storage, all of which need constructing. During this time they “dropped stern”, a milestone in which the Ship’s structure beings to take her own weight and reflects her realistic shape in service. This supported the progress to installing the two shafts; an enormous component of the build without which she wouldn’t move!
Late in the year the Ship made headlines by achieving her Roll-Out, Float Off milestone. To make room for the following Ship’s of the Type 26 class, she needed to move off the hardstanding at Govan and over to the Scotstoun Shipyard to continue her fitting out. This saw her mounted onto a huge barge, towed down the Clyde to Glenmallan, floated, then returned to Scotstoun and into dry-dock. She will remain there until she fully fitted out and then re-floated for sea trials later in the build.
In the coming year we expect the material state of the Ship to develop to the point which we attain “Switchboards Live”; the Ship able to take power and distribute it to where it is needed. This is really when the Ship starts to come alive, and all systems begin to depend on the Ship’s infrastructure. Weapon Engineering Technicians will join to support the install and setting to work of the Combat System.
It has been an auspicious first year for the HMS Glasgow Ship’s Company, delivering value to the enterprise in far in excess of their resourcing.
HMS Glasgow underway during the Roll Out Float Off milesetone.
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