Design work has commenced on new floating drydocks to be used for the maintenance of the UK Royal Navy's nuclear-powered submarines, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) confirmed recently.
Defence Minister Lord Coaker wrote to Parliament earlier this week saying that the MOD intends to award a contract for the construction of the docks following a procurement process and the outline of the technical specification.
The new floating docks are intended for deployment at HMNB Clyde to support submarine maintenance activities.
The MOD has not yet provided a timeline on when the construction contract is scheduled to be awarded.
Manufacture of the docks is in line with Programme Euston, the MOD's long-term initiative that seeks to introduce four floating docks to expand maintenance and engineering support facilities for the Royal Navy's submarine fleet.
The programme's objective is to address maintenance backlogs associated with the introduction of the newer Astute- and Dreadnought-class boats. The MOD said that inability to address the backlogs would negatively impact the readiness of the UK's submarine fleet.
