Adelaide’s $45bn frigate project is reaching a key milestone with the “birth” of the first ship, marking a historic landmark for naval shipbuilding.

A keel laying ceremony will be conducted on Monday at Osborne Naval Shipyard, for the first Hunter class frigate.

This symbolises the vessel’s “birth” and invokes good luck and protection for the future naval ship and its crew.

The frigate contract was awarded in 2018 to BAE Systems Australia to build the Hunter frigates and create a continuous naval shipbuilding program in Adelaide.

This has led to the $368bn AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine project, for which a $30bn-plus construction yard is being built at Osborne, with BAE and Osborne shipyard neighbour ASC the joint builders.

BAE Systems Maritime Australia delivery director acquisition Andrew Coxall said the Hunter program’s global workforce had grown to more than 2800, of which more than 2000 worked at Osborne. “The Hunter program has always been about more than just building ships.

Hunter is embedding a critical sovereign capability in continuous naval shipbuilding, enabling Australia to design and build complex warships for generations to come,” he said.

“The Hunter class frigate program is making strong, tangible progress with

more than 75 per cent of the first frigate under construction, and contracts signed

with Australian companies to support the build of the first batch of three

frigates.”

The first Hunter ship, due to be delivered to the Navy in 2032, will lead a fleet of six anti-submarine warfare frigates tasked with co-ordinating the nation’s Collins class submarine fleet, surface fleet and RAAF aircraft to protect Australian waters. Three frigates were axed from the Hunter warship build and replaced by a next-generation air warfare destroyer project, in a surface fleet review released in early 2024.

At the time, Defence Minister Richard Marles renewed his repeated pledge of continuous naval shipbuilding by promising the six Hunter anti-submarine frigates would be immediately followed by construction of the replacement for Hobart Class air warfare destroyers.

This followed BAE the previous November unveiling a dramatically expanded 96-missile design for the Hunter frigates.