UK — Navy’s latest destroyer is launched

Dun­can, the sixth and last of the Roy­al Navy’s pow­er­ful, new Type 45 destroy­ers, was launched on the Clyde.

The final Type 45 destroy­er Dun­can is launched on the Clyde at the BAE Sys­tems ship­yard in Glas­gow Source: Andrew Lin­nett, Min­istry of Defence, UK Click to enlarge

Marie Ibbot­son, wife of the Deputy Com­man­der-in-Chief Fleet, Vice Admi­ral Richard Ibbot­son, sent the Type 45 down the slip­way on the anniver­sary of the Roy­al Navy’s sig­nif­i­cant vic­to­ry over the Dutch fleet in 1797 which was led by Admi­ral Adam Dun­can after whom the ship is named. 

On his first vis­it to the Clyde as Min­is­ter for Defence Equip­ment, Sup­port and Tech­nol­o­gy, Peter Luff watched the launch and met mem­bers of the ship­yard work­force. He said: 

“The launch of Dun­can is the cul­mi­na­tion of a huge effort by work­ers here on the Clyde, across the coun­try through­out the sup­ply chain, and in the MOD, com­plet­ing this class of potent war-fight­ers of which every­one involved can be very proud. 

“Fol­low­ing on from HMS Dar­ing being declared in ser­vice and the suc­cess­ful first fir­ing of the Sea Viper mis­sile sys­tem, this is anoth­er sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in the deliv­ery of a tru­ly world-class air defence capa­bil­i­ty to the Roy­al Navy.” 

Equipped with the Sea Viper mis­sile sys­tem, the Type 45 will be able to engage mul­ti­ple air­borne or sea-skim­ming tar­gets from any direc­tion at super­son­ic speed, help­ing her to pro­vide unri­valled pro­tec­tion to the fleet from the most sophis­ti­cat­ed air­craft or missiles. 

Com­man­der-in-Chief Fleet, Admi­ral Sir Trevor Soar, said: 

“The Type 45 is world-class. These ships are as ver­sa­tile as they are pow­er­ful. Pro­vid­ing flex­i­ble glob­al reach they will deliv­er broad util­i­ty, com­mon to mar­itime forces, and give the UK mil­i­tary, diplo­mat­ic and polit­i­cal options, with their abil­i­ty to exert effect on land from the sea. This ranges from deter­rence and con­flict pre­ven­tion right up to high inten­si­ty war-fight­ing and all points between. 

“Nat­u­ral­ly her war-fight­ing capa­bil­i­ty includes the abil­i­ty to engage hos­tile forces using the Sea Viper mis­sile sys­tem, her gun or oth­er onboard weapon sys­tems, while her ship’s com­pa­ny pro­vide any­thing from board­ing par­ties that deter and dis­rupt pirates, to land­ing ashore for the pro­vi­sion of human­i­tar­i­an dis­as­ter relief. 

“Dun­can can also deploy up to 60 Roy­al Marines Com­man­dos and their equip­ment and oper­ate a range of heli­copters from her flight deck. These are fan­tas­tic ships and I look for­ward to Dun­can join­ing the fleet.” 

Dun­can is affil­i­at­ed to Dundee and Belfast. She com­pletes the class of six Type 45 war­ships along with Dar­ing, Daunt­less, Dia­mond, Drag­on and Defend­er. She is expect­ed to enter ser­vice in 2014. 

Press release
Min­istry of Defence, UK 

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