Many thanks to reader rptscott for alerting me to this:

From the UK Defence Journal, yesterday, only two years after the one above:

German propulsion specialist RENK Group has entered into a binding agreement to acquire David Brown Defence, the Huddersfield-based manufacturer of gearboxes for the Type 26 frigate and other major naval programmes, from private equity firm Stellex Capital Management, the UK Defence Journal understands.

The transaction, announced in London on 3 July, gives the Augsburg-headquartered group access to what it describes as high-value naval programmes across the Five Eyes nations. David Brown Defence supplies main propulsion transmission systems for the Global Combat Ship family, covering up to 34 vessels across the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates, Australia’s Hunter class frigates and Canada’s River class destroyers. 

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/renk-to-buy-uk-naval-gearbox-maker-david-brown-defence/

What? Germans? Scots have stood on the front line, fought and died in the thousands, against the Germans twice in ‘recent’ history.

I thought foreign countries were not allowed to build ‘our’ warships?

In 2013, Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said It would be “difficult to see how the work would go to Scotland” if independent. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/07/royal-navy-shipyard-threat-nicola-sturgeon

The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee’s January 2013 report was explicitly titled “Separation will shut Scottish shipyards.” It concluded that independence would likely end or severely curtail RN warship work in Scotland. Witnesses (including MoD officials) noted that an independent Scotland would be treated as a foreign country, ineligible for standard UK domestic procurement preferences. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/136/scottish-affairs-committee/news/180269/separation-will-shut-scottish-shipyards-says-scottish-affairs-committee/

The House of Commons Defence Committee and other evidence echoed that the UK would not build sensitive warships in a foreign country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Scottish_independence_referendum

As recently as January 2023, defence economists and industry figures (e.g., Professor Keith Hartley) reinforced this with warnings of “no future” for Scottish naval shipbuilding post-independence due to loss of UK orders, potential yard relocation by owners, and lack of equivalent domestic demand. https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-future-for-scottish-naval-shipbuilding-on-independence/

There are hundreds more in this vein.