UK defence in 2025: Warships and the surface fleet

The Royal Navy and the civilian-operated Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) operate a combined total of 70 surface vessels (seven of which have been or are being decommissioned).

The 2025 Strategic Defence Review called on the Royal Navy to move towards a “more powerful but cheaper and simpler fleet” with a hybrid mix of crewed, uncrewed and increasingly autonomous vessels and aircraft.

Both the Royal Navy and the RFA are going through a period of recapitalisation. New frigates are under construction in Scotland. New fleet support ships are to be built in Spain and the UK.

However, MPs have expressed concern about the size of the fleet and potential capability gaps created by delays into service of new ships and associated capabilities.

This briefing, one of a series on UK armed forces capabilities, sets out the surface fleet of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It does not include submarines.

About this briefing

An inventory of equipment does not reflect the true capabilities of the British armed forces. However, the numbers, mix and type of vessels reflect the UK’s ambitions for the armed forces and guide the types of operations it can conduct or participate in.

This briefing provides information on current numbers, brief histories of procurement (where relevant) and future vessel plans. It briefly highlights concerns about capability gaps and the size of the fleet but it does not cover personnel numbers. A discussion of each major type of vessel can be found in sections six to 14.

A note on terminology: this briefing uses the terms out of service, retired or decommissioned to mean no longer in service. The actual decommissioning process can take some time. The term ‘in service’ includes ships that are undergoing maintenance or are being held at readiness.

This briefing was first published in May 2025. It has been updated to reflect the decisions and recommendations of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review.

Number of ships in the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary

The Ministry of Defence publishes the numbers of vessels in the Royal Navy surface fleet and the civilian-operated Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) annually. As of 1 April 2025 there were:

• 70 vessels in total: 57 in the Royal Navy and 13 in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
• 63 vessels in service: 52 in the Royal Navy and 11 in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

However, the April 2025 figures do not reflect the redesignation of RFA Stirling Castle to HMS Stirling Castle in July 2025. This does not affect the total number of vessels but does increase the overall number of vessels in the Royal Navy (from 57 to 58) and a corresponding decrease in the RFA (12).

Concerns about capability gaps and the size of the fleet

MPs have expressed concern about the size of the fleet and potential capability gaps created by delays into service of some ships and associated capabilities.

MPs have also questioned whether the MOD should retain vessels that are no longer required but could be returned to service in the event of a major conflict, given the current geo-political landscape. In its 2024 report on armed forces readiness, the Defence Committee said that “in a war of existence, a platform which is even halfway viable for regeneration is better than none at all”.

In June 2025, the then Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, told the Defence Select Committee that the Navy is in a “difficult transition” with the replacements for aging frigates “not quite ready”.

The 2025 Strategic Defence Review on the Royal Navy and RFA

The Royal Navy should move towards a “more powerful but cheaper and simpler fleet” with a hybrid mix of crewed, uncrewed and increasingly autonomous vessels and aircraft. This is one of the conclusions of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published by the government in June 2025.

The review sets out the Royal Navy’s purpose: to defend the UK, to deter and defend in the Euro-Atlantic, and to shape the global security environment.

Specific tasks including continuing to provide the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent, contribute to NATO’s maritime plans and focus on securing the North Atlantic to counter Russian submarines and protect critical undersea infrastructure.

A more detailed look at what the SDR said about the Royal Navy and RFA can be found in Commons Library research briefing Strategic Defence Review: The Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Shipbuilding in the UK

The government’s approach to naval procurement has evolved over the last decade under different Prime Ministers.

Shipbuilding was identified as a priority industrial capability in the Defence Industrial Strategy, published in September 2025. Shipbuilding was one of the sectors “where varied levels of autonomy in the UK is required to conduct military operations and protect sensitive technologies”.

The government intends to publish a new “Shipbuilding and Maritime Technology Action Plan”, according to Luke Pollard, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry.