The first block of a massive new ship being built for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary has been moved into position in her berth by BAE at the company’s Govan shipyard in Scotland.

The 950 tonne section is officially designated Block 3 of the seven that will form the hull of RFA Mounts Bay when the 16,000-tonne Landing Ship Logistic (LSL) is launched at the end of this year.

Her sister RFA Cardigan Bay is also being built at the Govan yard, and it is expected that at the peak of the workload some 600 jobs will be sustained on the Clyde by these two ships.

When operational, they will provide logistical support to the Royal Navy’s amphibious assault ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, as well as the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean.

The two Bay-class vessels will join two further ships of the class, RFAs Largs Bay and Lyme Bay, which are being built by Swan Hunter on the Tyne.

The four ships will replace the smaller LSLs of the Sir Galahad and Sir Bedivere classes, which displace between 6,700 tons and 8,585 tons fully loaded. Each Bay-class vessel will be able to handle 36 main battle tanks – twice the capacity of the existing LSLs – and up to 200 tons of ammunition.

They will also be able to handle helicopters as large as the Chinook.

Based on the Dutch amphibious ship Rotterdam, the new breed of LSLs will form the second wave of an amphibious assault, using heavy-lift helicopters and an amphibious dock operating one Landing Craft Utility and mexeflotes.