Ministry of Defence to fast-track first of six amphibious vessels capable of deploying Royal Marines anywhere in the world – and Mersey shipyard Cammell Laird could build them. Tony McDonough reports

BMT’s ELLIDA concept which is an option for the Royal Navy’s new MRSS vessels. Image from BMT Group

Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird could be in line to build a new generation of six amphibious vessels capable of deploying Royal Marines across the globe.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence is engaging with the UK’s ship design and build sector with an ambitious target of deploying the first of the ships by the early 2030s.

These Multi Role Support Ships (MRSS) will replace HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, the Royal Navy’s current amphibious flagships which will remain in service until 2033 or 2034.

They will also take the place of the three Bay-class amphibious support vessels, RFAs Lyme Bay, Mounts Bay and Cardigan Bay and support ship RFA Argus.

MRSS will be “extremely versatile” warships, able to quickly deploy Royal Marines on a wider variety of operations. They will be designed to carry vehicles, aircraft, insertion craft and a broad range of uncrewed systems for complicated missions.

They will also be able to act as primary casualty receiving ships, providing urgent medical care to British forces wherever they are deployed.

The MOD has entered the first phase of the MRSS programme and will work with industry as part of early market engagement ahead of developing the vessel design.

MRSS programme director, Commander Alex Allen, said: “As the son of a Royal Marine who fought in the Falklands War, I recognise the importance of this capability to a global navy.

“But these ships must be ready to meet a future threat where they will be required to exploit new technology and change roles quickly. Adaptability and flexibility will be central to the Multi Role Support Ship design, as will interoperability with our NATO allies.”

Independent news and analysis website, Navy Lookout, says MRSS is now in the “concept phase” and it describes the timetable for the delivery of the first vessel as “extremely tight”.

It added: “If the Bay class is not extended in service, then the MRSS first-of-class needs to enter service in 2031. Essentially this would mean there are about four years to develop the design and about three years to build the first ship.”

It went on: “The need for MRSS to be persistently deployed, likely operating from overseas bases will impact the through-life support solution for these ships.

“The Royal Navy and its industry partners have to weigh up design choices and implications of building ships that may have higher initial costs to increase their reliability and simplify maintenance in service.”

Navy Lookout adds there are just three UK shipyards capable of building large ships from scratch or consolidating blocks from other shipbuilders. They are Babcock at Rosyth, Harland & Wolff in Belfast and Cammell Laird on the Mersey.

Rosyth’s dry dock is earmarked for aircraft carrier maintenance for the next few years and Harland & Wolff is grappling with a financial crisis at the time of writing.

Click here for the full Navy Lookout analysis of the project

Cammell Laird has not delivered a full Royal Navy ship for a number of years. However, over the past decade  the business has established particular expertise in what is described as “block building”. That is building sections of ships that are then transported and assembled at other locations.

Polar research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough at Cammell Laird. Picture by Richard Turner
HMS Prince of Wales, sections of which were built by Cammell Laird. Picture courtesy of the Royal Navy
BMT’s ELLIDA concept vessel may fit the MRSS bill. Image from BMT Group

Between 2014 and 2016 the shipyard built flight deck hangers and accommodation sections for the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carriers.

In October 2016, workers at Cammell Laird started building RRS Sir David Attenborough, a £200m polar research vessel for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). 

Delays due to COVID-19 as well as “further engineering and design challenges” meant the formal handover of the vessel to NERC did not take place until November 2020. Work on the ship continued at the yard until it departed the Mersey on July 1, 2021.

This contributed to five straight years of losses at the company and had led to a root and branch reform of the business. Peel Group-owned Cammell Laird now operates as part of a wider group of shipbuilders and shiprepairers called APCL Group.

This also includes A&P Group, as well as Birkenhead engineering firm Neway Industrial Services. This group comprises shipyards in Birkenhead, the North East and the South West of England. It also includes project management specialist A&P Australia.

Cammell Laird did not wish to comment for this article but LBN understands the company, following the major overhaul, is now in a strong position to take on another major project.

READ MORE: Cammell Laird back in profit as revenues surge 30%

A design has yet to be chosen for the MRSS vessels but one possibility is the ELLIDA vessel. This is a multi-role logistics ship concept designed by BMT Group (previously British Maritime Technology).

BMT is an international multidisciplinary engineering, science and technology consultancy. The ELLIDA, says BMT, is a ship “designed to provide the capabilities needed in future global operations”.