HMS Cardiff (F89)

HMS Cardiff is the second Batch 1 Type 26 frigate to be built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The first steel was cut on 14 August 2019. The Type 26 class will partially replace the navy's thirteen Type 23 frigates, and will be a multi-mission warship designed for anti-submarine warfare, air defence and general purpose operations. The frigate is currently being fitted out at the BAE Systems Maritime in Glasgow, the second to enter production as part of a £3.7 billion contract for three ships announced by the MoD in 2017, preceded by her sister ship Glasgow. Belfast is to follow.

Like Glasgow, the frigate was built at the BAE Systems Maritime shipyard at Govan, then transferred onto the semi-submersible heavy-lift barge Malin Augustea CD01. On 30 August 2024, Cardiff was taken on the barge down the Clyde and up Loch Long to the Glen Mallan jetty, to be floated off the barge and enter the water for the first time. A few days later, it was taken by tugs upriver to the BAE Scotstoun shipyard for fitting out.