Labour has slammed “unacceptable” years-long delays to overhauls of Royal Navy frigates, heaping pressure on new defence secretary Grant Shapps to clear the backlog.
Refits of the Navy’s Type 23 frigates by defence contractor Babcock are now taking up to four years, official figures show, compared to 18 months on average a decade ago.
The increasingly long refits of the submarine hunting ships threaten to scupper the deployment of a vessel meant to guard aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Figures revealed in Parliament by defence minister James Cartlidge show that the last five refits of Type 23s by Babcock have taken an average of 39 months to complete.
The most recent one was completed in June after Babcock engineers took 49 months to declare HMS Iron Duke seaworthy.
John Healey MP, the shadow Defence Secretary, said: “The state of the Royal Navy and the condition of its ships increases concerns about the UK’s ability to fulfil its sovereign and NATO requirements.
“At a time of war in Europe, it is unacceptable that frigate numbers have fallen so low, made worse by the cost and time for refitting Type 23 frigates.”
Naval sources said the “ageing” Type 23s were being worked even harder thanks to defence cuts, with the original fleet of nineteen frigates having been reduced by 40pc over the years.
Mark Francois MP, the former armed forces minister who obtained the figures on refit time periods, said: “Babcock are now one of the largest overall suppliers to the Ministry of Defence but their refit record for the Royal Navy is really woeful.
“Ministers should have the company’s senior management in for an ‘interview without coffee’ and ask them what they intend to do about it, as it now materially affects the defence of the realm.”
Refits are top-to-bottom overhauls of a warship, costing up to £100m per vessel in recent years. The Type 23 ships were built for the Royal Navy between 1985 and 1999 and require recertification as fit for service every six years.
Regular Parliamentary questions are being asked about time and money spent on keeping the Navy’s ageing frontline warships operational.
Mr Cartlidge revealed in July that the refit of HMS Westminster, another Type 23 frigate, cost £100m before being suspended. The fate of the vessel is now unclear.
Defence blog Navy Lookout revealed a litany of blunders in the Babcock-run refit of a Type 23, HMS Somerset, this week.
The Somerset, which completed a 43-month refit last May, is said to have experienced a leaky rudder bearing that required repeated dry-docking over a period of months to repair.