Type 45 Destroyer – Daring to be Different

UK Ministry of Defence, YES, she is real: All 500ft of her. On a slipway in a huge covered hall by the banks of the Clyde sits Daring, the first of Britain's next-generation destroyers.  
 
In four months' time she will leave that slipway and nestle in the water for the first time. But already there's excitement about the ship – and the rest of the Type 45 class – loudly proclaimed as 'the world's most advanced destroyers':  
 
“We've had sailors visiting the yard asking: Can we touch her? Is she real?” said Matt Roberts, overseeing the Type 45 project.  
Having waited so long for the replacement for the Type 42 fleet – as envisaged back in the 1980s, the next-generation destroyers were due to arrive from 2000 onwards – Jack and Jill are eager to play with their new toy:  
 
“We're ready to get our hands on Daring and very soon,” said Commander Andy Course of the Type 45 team. “The signs are really promising.”  
 
Indeed they are. Daring is on track to join the Fleet in the middle of 2009, followed a year later by Dauntless and before the end of 2010 by Diamond.  
 
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. There's a hell of a lot of work to do before Daring enters the water, let alone enters service.  
 
While she looks reasonably complete from the outside, inside is a shipbuilder's warren of unpainted compartments covered with graffiti – instructions for welding, fitting cables or pipes – and in some cases wooden ladders instead of metal stairs.  
 
Unlike most new ships, there's the smell not of fresh paint but solder and fish and chips – there's a canteen alongside Daring for the people building her. An army of 550 shipwrights, electricians, plumbers, welders and the like swarms over the Daring – a fraction of the 10,000 people across Europe swept up in the Type 45 programme.  
 
There's the bow and main mast from VT in Portsmouth. The Sampson radar from Insyte on the Isle of Wight. The Aster missile from MBDA in Britain and the south of France. And scores of smaller firms dotted across the UK and Continent supporting these projects and many more.  
 
It all comes together on the Clyde. Daring will be the sole T45 built in the BAE Systems' shed at Scotstoun. She will be the largest warship launched at the yard – formerly Yarrow – in its 140-year history.  
 
Her sisters will take shape across the water at BAE's Govan yard. The outline of Dauntless, Type 45 No.2, can already be seen by anyone driving along the north bank of the Clyde if the huge shed doors are open.  
 
It's difficult to gain an impression of the size of these ships from a distance, or from the computer illustrations which have regularly appeared on these pages. So we'll use an analogy instead.  
 
You could step off the bridge wing of a Type 23 frigate and on to the foc's'le of Daring. Size means space. A lot of space. No narrow passages which dog the Type 42 here.  
 
Life aboard for the 190-strong ship's company will be much improved for anyone who has served in the existing destroyer or frigate suite. The 'worst' accommodation is a six-berth cabin, the best single-berth.  
 
More toilets and showers have been provided per sailor than on present ships – and, best of all, they're a stone's throw away from accommodation. No more wandering down a couple of decks with a towel wrapped precariously around your nether regions.  
 
A fitness suite is designed into Daring from the outset. If it's busy, take a trip around the flight deck 16 times – it's the equivalent of running a mile.  
 
With all the Gucci equipment, all the smart cabins, the gym, the extra showers and toilets, the vast flight deck, the wide passageways, the full-colour hi-tech operations room, it's easy to get sucked in by the 'wow' factor. But this is not a cruise liner, not some rich person's play thing. This is a man o'war:  
 
“We have never built a class of destroyer which has not seen action,” Cdr Course pointed out soberly. “This is a ship which will be in harm's way at some point in the future.”