Royal Navy's new Destroyer Class - background and news
(Revised December 2008)

Background
The Type 45s, at around 7350 tonnes, will be the biggest and most powerful air defence destroyers ever built for the Royal Navy. They will provide a quantum leap in capability from the outset. They will carry the world leading PAAMS system and the Sampson multi-function radar (world beating British technology). This system will set new standards in air defence, as it will defend the T45 and ships in its company from multiple attacks by even the most sophisticated anti-ship missiles. The initial procurement plans are for six Type 45 Destroyers, the first four of which have already been launched and named HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless, HMS Diamond and HMS Dragon. The currently-estimated in-service date of HMS Daring is December 2009.

Current progress
HMS Daring began construction in August 2003, she was launched in 2006 and she is now in the final stages of build in Glasgow and undertaking a series of sea trials periods off the West of Scotland; meanwhile her five sister ships are in various stages of build by BVT in Glasgow. HMS Dauntless which has just completed her maiden voyage, HMS Diamond and HMS Dragon have been launched already. The next to launch is HMS Defender in mid 2009 followed by HMS Duncan in 2010.

News
Captain Paul Bennett took command of HMS Daring in early 2008 and was able to take time away from a busy first-of-class ship's trials programme to join the Daring's Cory Cup regatta at Cowes on Saturday 5th July. Paul and his wife Kay are enthusiastic sailors and welcomed meeting a number of Association members ashore before and after racing whilst Paul claimed to enjoy his introduction to Daring racing onboard Dauntless crewing for Giles & Jane Peckham. Paul also managed to come out on Division Belle for the final race of the season and attended the end of season lunch at the RYS. We look forward to seeing Paul and his fellow Type 45 Commanding Officers and sailing crew members joining us at Cowes in the coming seasons.

Visit to HMS Daring

Carron reports: My recollection of the ship itself ... 8k tons, 0-30 in under 2 minutes, 500 metre turning circle at 30 knots and a stopping distance of 5 ship's lengths - tankers take 42 miles! Generates enough power to light up Lincoln. Can track hang gliders at 250 miles as well as all the detailed air movements at every airport inside that radius! Has a pretty good air picture at about 10x that range!!. The most comfortable crew conditions of any warship in the Navy. With the contractors the crew are still trying to work out how it all works and how to put it all together, so she won't be fully operational for a few more months. Amazing ops room, which still has a place for chinagraph pencils!! It is the most sophisticated anti-air Destroyer in the world and is being watched very closely by the Russian Trawler in international waters well to the South West!!

Photos on Flickr.com

Daring Association attend the launch of HMS Dauntless and visit HMS Daring
Following the successful visit led by Brian Hardy to watch the launch of HMS Dauntless on Clyde-side in January 2007, our current Class Captain Carron Snagge led a second party of Association members north to Glasgow to enjoy a tour of HMS Diamond and then to watch the launch of HMS Dragon on Monday 17th November 2008. Carron and Jenny Snagge were joined by Mike and Sue Fox, Ben Gower and Calum Sillars.

The party was welcomed to a rather damp Scotstoun by Commander Paddy Munns, HMS Diamond’s Senior Naval Officer, who ensured that the visitors were all kitted out in the necessary health and safety attire before taking us round his partially completed destroyer. Highlights of the impressive visit included being taken inside the ship’s Aster missile silo and ending up in the palatial Captain’s cabin. Carron rounded off the tour with a presentation of a Daring tie and a pair of Daring socks to Paddy to thank him for his kind hospitality and a fascinating look around his smart ship.

After a fish and chips lunch in a pub off the Byers Road the party moved across the River Clyde to Govan to watch the launch of HMS Dragon. Despite the seasonal gloomy weather, the team joined a huge crowd of other well-wishers to watch the fourth of the Type 45 destroyers slide down the slip into the Clyde to the sound of the Royal Marines' band. Refreshment vans did a roaring trade as the chilly wind whipped off the Clyde. balloons, a blizzard of confetti and the roar of onlookers filled the air, as the crowd of around 5,000 Clyde-side workers and their families, local school children, and others from further a-field, watched their latest pride and joy take to the water, complete with an 18 metre long red dragon painted on her bow

A 3 minute video of the launch of HMS Dauntless (sister ship to HMS Dragon) can be viewed or downloaded on the BAE Systems web site.

If any Association members are interested in attending the launch of HMS Defender in 2009, they should contact Calum. As Commander David Shutts, when senior naval officer of HMS Daring, commented: "either way I know that you'll enjoy the launch of one of these ships - they're big girls in a sexy frock and they look good sliding backwards into the sea". Or if you would like to offer a crewing slot to a member of the IPT or ships' companies of one of the Type 45s, many of whom live on the south coast, contact Calum Sillars.

Lesser known facts about HMS Daring

• The power plant on Daring could supply enough electricity to light a town of 80,000 people (ie Leicester).
• Its fuel tanks have a volume equivalent to about half an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
• The vessel contains 110 bunk beds, 26 sofa beds, 22 single beds and has its own hospital facilities.
• The hull is made of 2,800 tonnes of steel weighing more than the Blackpool Tower.
• Approximately 40 tonnes of paint will have to be applied to cover an area of 100,000sq m of steel.