Britain's Stealth Warship Masquerades as a Fishing Boat

Our maritime colleagues at gCaptain point us to photos of July's maiden voyage of the HMS Daring, the newest ship in the British Navy and perhaps the most sophisticated warship ever built.

Designed for stealth and cruise missile air defense, the angular profile of the 500-foot warship enables it to appear no bigger than a fishing boat on enemy radar. In addition, the exhaust gasses are cooled to reduce the ship's infrared signature—and evade heat-seeking missiles. The, uh, daringness of the Daring's design becomes clear when you look at it alongside its contemporary American equivalent, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, shown here to the right:

But that's not where the fun ends. The Times of London provides more detail about Britain's new Type 45 destroyers, which each cost £605 million (US$1.2 billion):

Among the battery of state-of-the-art equipment is a new Principal Anti-Air Missile System, which can trace and destroy hostile objects as small a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound. Its range is effective over a radius of several hundred miles.

Her PAAMS air defence missiles are the size of  public phone boxes, weigh two thirds as much as a small car and from launch accelerate to a speed twice that of Concorde in under 10 seconds. [...]

HMS Daring's 230-strong crew should be happy too. She and her sisters will be the first "gender-neutral" warships to enter Royal Navy service, and the Hotel Facilities, as the living quarters are known, are the most opulent ever fitted in a British warship. Mess decks are replaced by individual cabins, each with their own I-pod charging points, CD player, internet access, five channel recreational audio and larger berths.

iPod docks! How perfectly civilized. The Daring is now undergoing sea trials off the coast of Scotland, and the warship is on track for commissioning in 2009. The Royal Navy has ordered a total of six Type 45 destroyers, and in keeping with the Daring theme, we'd love it if the next five were named Sporty, Rakish, Dashing, Xtreme, and Intestinal Fortitude.

But that's not the way it's going to happen. Instead, the Brits latched on to the whole "D" thing, so the Daring's sister ships will be called Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender, and Duncan. Dammit.

(Shake of the scrambled eggs: gCaptain!)

LINKS:
Air Defense Destroyer (Type 45) (Royal Navy website)

HMS Daring Information (BAE Systems website)

Type 45 Destroyer (Wikipedia entry)

Type 45 Air Defense Destroyer (Globalsecurity.org)

PREVIOUSLY:
Telstar Logistics Visits the USS Nimitz or: How We Learned to Stop Whining and Love Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carriers

The Post-Retirement Adventures of the USS Tripoli

(Photos above: HMS Daring departs for sea trials.  Top, from Shipspotting.com. Below, Royal Navy.)

Comments

[Brian Davies]

It's a great pity the name and number D32 don't go together.D32 will always be H.M.S Camperdown in my book.

[Josh Neumann]

Very interesting...it's always fascinating reading about the latest in military techology. Thanks for the update.

[Steven L.]

They can't see my boat on radar at all its so small my shrink can't even see it.
Your Truely Rubber Room Fisherman

[Evening Secret]

Wow...that's impressive. Maybe someday I'll have a boat like that! (In my dreams...)

[Alan Miller]

No anti ship missiles, no decent sonar, no torpedoes, no CIWS but it can load an I-pod like nobody`s business. At the moment a toothless ship with potential.

Give me an Arleigh Burke anyday, which has ALL of the above weapons.