UK to Build Six New Amphibious Warships for Royal Navy

Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, Grant Shapps, announced they will build six new warships for the Royal Navy. Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Secretary of State for Defence Minister Shapps claimed that these new ships, Multi-Purpose Support Ships (MRSS), will be built in the United Kingdom and help enhance amphibious special operations for future conflicts. Shapps stated that constructing these ships is possible because the UK has significantly boosted its defence spending, marking a new golden age for British shipbuilding. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared on April 23 that his country's security spending would rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030. The MRSS will substitute the RFAs Lyme Bay, Mounts Bay, and Cardigan Bay, as well as the support ship RFA Argus. The MRSS will be versatile battleships designed to deploy on a wide range of operations and equipped to transport vehicles, planes, insertion craft, and a variety of unmanned systems for intricate jobs. They will also function as primary casualty receiving ships, providing emergency medical care to British personnel at any location. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has entered the initial phase, known as the concept phase, of the MRSS Programme. They will engage with the sector early on before developing the vessel design. HMS Westminster will be decommissioned before the new generation of frigates, the Type 26 and 31, are completed. Britain is currently seeing a resurgence in shipbuilding, with plans for the construction of up to 28 warships and submarines, with defence expenditure approaching 2.5% of GDP. The Defence Secretary confirmed that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark will not be decommissioned before their scheduled out-of-service dates in 2033-2034. The Defence Secretary will announce the retirement of HMS Argyll and HMS Westminster, which have collectively served for 63 years. HMS Argyll has been sold to BAE Systems and will be used in the UK's shipbuilding sector to support apprentice training as part of the Government's skills and shipbuilding capacity agenda.