Harland & Wolff (Appledore), the north Devon shipyard in England, has reached an important milestone at the facility that, under previous owners, as Afloat reported, built in 2018 the last offshore patrol vessel for the Irish Naval Service.
On this latest occasion at the Appledore yard near Bideford, on Saturday, the new specialist cable barge to serve the UK’s Royal Navy was lifted from its construction area of the covered building hall with its 119-metre drydock.
The cable barge is to enter service for KBS Maritime, which was formed in 2021 through a joint venture partnership between KBR and BAE Systems. The newbuild is to work at the Royal Navy’s main base in Portsmouth, where the vessel’s main role is to deploy and retrieve anchors for naval ships.
The barge will also manage anchor chains as part of operations at the base in Hampshire, where KBS operates infrastructure asset management and services, along with BAE Systems.
Currently, H&W Appledore is where painting is underway, whereas ballasting is scheduled for this day next week (19th June), which involves adding stability with concrete. In addition to other works like the fitment of fenders and the completion of painting, which is expected to end in the first week of next month,.
After that stage, there will be an inclining experiment to confirm stability before delivery of the cable barge.
