UK to boost submarine maintenance and nuclear defueling at Devonport facility

Babcock International has been awarded a £750 million (US$912 million) contract to upgrade and improve infrastructure at Devonport dockyard in Plymouth on the UK’s south coast.  

The company will provide improved submarine maintenance and deep maintenance facilities for the UK Royal Navy’s current and future fleet of conventional and nuclear submarines.

The project, which will take four years to deliver, will consist of ‘substantial upgrades to existing infrastructure to support the future capability of the Royal Navy and the UK's Defence Nuclear Enterprise’, according to Babcock.

‘The contract includes a dock, logistics and modern support facilities, and underpins the wider role Babcock plays in sustaining the entirety of the UK submarine fleet … including nuclear defuelling,’ the company noted. 

The deal follows other contract placed since 2020 worth about $140 million, in particular to support Astute-class submarines which was described by Babcock as ‘the first stage in a multi-year development programme for Devonport that will see improvement projects span many years’.

Babcock’s Devonport facility is co-located with HM Naval Base Devonport and is one of the largest naval support sites in Western Europe.