(November 19th 2001)
Further ALSLs Ordered
The Ministry of Defence today placed a contract worth about £120 million for the construction of two large amphibious landing ships with BAE SYSTEMS Marine at its Govan yard on the Clyde.
The contract is expected to sustain about 600 jobs at the shipyard and 200 more among contractors outside the region when construction is at its peak, and will help provide continuity in workload before construction of the Type 45 Destroyers gets underway in 2003.
The two ships, which will be named RFA Mounts Bay and RFA Cardigan Bay, are the final two units of the Bay class. The first two vessels - RFA Largs Bay and RFA Lyme Bay - were ordered from Swan Hunter last year.
Adam Ingram, Minister for the Armed Forces, said: " These ships will represent a major improvement to UK amphibious warfare capability. You only have to look at Operation Veritas, where some of the vessels the Bay class will replace are deployed, to see how valuable these ships will be".