Bay Class Landing Ship - Construction

Construction

The contract for Largs Bay and Lyme Bay was awarded to Swan Hunter on 18 December 2000 and the £122m contract for Mounts Bay and Cardigan Bay was awarded to BAE on 19 November 2001. Construction on Largs Bay started at Swan Hunter on 28 January 2002, and on Mounts Bay at BAE on 25 August 2002.

Swan Hunter struggled to manage the project and contain costs; only 7% of the design drawings were provided on time and more than 52% were over a year late. Jaap Kroese of Swan Hunter has blamed the MoD for continually changing the specifications. The extent of the problems only came to light in September 2003 when Swan Hunter said they could not fulfil the contract at the agreed price. In November 2004 progress on Largs Bay was delayed by water entering two engines during engine trials, putting the planned first of class behind work on BAE's first ship. The following month the government agreed to pay Swan Hunter an extra £84m under new contract terms, but in June 2005 Swan Hunter said that they still could not finish the job within budget. This led to their contract being cancelled and BAE taking over the project in July 2006. In total Swan Hunter had been paid £342m and BAE £254m, making a total of £596m for the four ships.

Mounts Bay entered service in July 2006, followed by Largs Bay in November of that year, 28 months later than originally planned. The incomplete Lyme Bay was towed to Govan for completion by BAE. Lyme Bay was dedicated on 26 November 2007; the last ship of the class to enter RFA service. The ship was the only warship built by Swan Hunter but not completed; she marked the end of shipbuilding on the Tyne as soon afterwards Swan Hunter sold its equipment to India and reinvented itself as an engineering consultancy.