Tag Archives: Type 45

Photos of Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring port visit to Shanghai, China (10 December 2013)

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Chinese navy officers stand as the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring arrives to the north side of the bund at Huangpu River in Shanghai, December 10, 2013. The HMS Daring has returned from the Philippines after delivering aid after Typhoon Haiyan hit the region. [Photo/Agencies]

HMS Daring, a UK destroyer, sails up the Huangpu River in Shanghai on Dec 10, 2013. [Photo by Yang Yi/Asianewsphoto]

Angus Essenhigh, right, the commanding officer of HMS Daring, shakes hands with a Chinese navy officer in Shanghai, on Dec 10, 2013. [Photo by Yang Yi/Asianewsphoto]

Crew members of the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring stand on the deck as they arrive at a port area of Huangpu River in Shanghai, December 10, 2013. The HMS Daring has returned from the Philippines after delivering aid after Typhoon Haiyan hit the region. [Photo/Agencies]

Crew members of the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring stand on the deck as they arrive at a port area of Huangpu River in Shanghai, December 10, 2013. [Photo by Yang Yi/Asianewsphoto]

British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring is docked at the port area of Huangpu River after its arrival to Shanghai December 10, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Members of the welcoming ceremony band play as British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring arrives at a port area of Huangpu River in Shanghai December 10, 2013. [Photo by Yang Yi/Asianewsphoto]

A sailor from British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring tries to catch a mooring line to dock in the north side of the bund at Huangpu River in Shanghai December 10, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Royal Navy’s newest destroyer HMS Duncan conducts gunnery shoot

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HMS Duncan (D37), the Royal Navy’s sixth (and final) Type 45 destroyer, conducts her first gunnery shoot. Twelve of these destroyers were originally planned (as one-for-one replacement for the Type 42). The number was cut to 8 in 2003 and to 6 in 2006.

Duncan blazes fire and steel during destroyer’s first gunnery shoot

Britain’s final Type 45 destroyer fired up her guns for the first time with sustained period of shooting off the Dorset gun.

Every one of the Portsmouth-based warship guns was fired – from her hand-held General Purpose Machine-Guns and Miniguns, through the 30mm automated cannon and the main 4.5in which can hurl a 40kg high-explosive shell more than a dozen miles.

Pictures: Lt Cdr Ryan Wallace and PO(AWT) David Lowe

With a flash of fire exploding from the muzzle, a shell leaves the main gun of new destroyer HMS Duncan for the first time.

Over the past few weeks Britain’s sixth and final Type 45 destroyer has been testing her advanced gunnery systems off the Dorset coast – the first occasion when she’s truly proven she’s a warship.

Every one of the Portsmouth-based warship’s guns was fired from her hand-held General Purpose Machine-Guns and Miniguns, through the 30mm automated cannon and the ‘crowdpleaser’, Duncan’s 4.5in main gun which can hurl a 40kg high-explosive shell more than a dozen miles.

After arriving in her home base for the first time in March and commissioning in September, Duncan – named after the Scottish admiral who decisively beat the Dutch Fleet at Camperdown in 1797 – has been preparing to join her five sisters on the front-line.

A 30mm shell casing falls away during the automated gun’s aerial target shoot

The first four Type 45s have carried out deployments – twice in the case of HMS Daring – while HMS Defender is due to sail on operations for the first time next year.

Key to any of those deployments is the ability of the guns to provide accurate and effective firepower – hence several days on the ranges in the Channel for what’s known as Sea Acceptance Trials (Gunnery).

In Duncan’s spacious, hi-tech operations room Lt Tuijo ‘TJ’ Thompson – a Royal New Zealand Navy officer on exchange – the ship’s principal warfare officer took charge, ensuring the destroyer was is in a safe position to operate the weaponry and fire it at selected targets.

ET(WE)s Richard Edge and Adam Matthews remove the 4-5in muzzle cover

In support of any firings by the 4.5in ‘Kryten’ (so named for its angular casing resembles the Red Dwarf character of the same name) PO ‘Daz’ Hickling, the captain of the turret, sat in the gunbay beneath the weapon overseeing the safe loading and operation of the main gun as it hammered away.

Duncan was making use of the ranges off Weymouth, run by 148 Battery Royal Artillery, an Army Commando unit who help to target the guns of the Fleet in times of war such as Libya and Iraq.

“They were very impressed by the ship’s display of Naval Gunfire Support, stating it was the best they had seen in years – not bad for Duncan’s first effort under the White Ensign,” said Cdr James Stride, the destroyer’s Commanding Officer.

POET(WE) Daz Hickling in the Captain of the Turret seat overseeing the 4.5in shoot

The 30mm cannon shoot proved particularly successful – Duncan became the first Type 45 destroyer to successfully engage an aerial towed target.

Just for good measure, the machine-guns and Minigun (a manually-operated Gatling Gun) were flashed up under the supervision of experienced gunner PO(AWW) Jamie Phillips.

“By proving that her various guns work as they were designed to do, Duncan will now be able to go on to support operations worldwide by providing Naval Gunfire Support to forces ashore, engaging surface targets that pose a threat, and play a part in defending the ship from air attack,” Cdr Stride added.

https://navynews.co.uk/archive/news/item/9335

PHOTEX: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon taken from US Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz

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131105-N-UV347-074: MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Nov. 5, 2013) – The British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon (D35) sails behind the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz is deployed supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Eric M. Butler/ Released)

South Korean Navy takes delivery of 12th Gumdoksuri-class patrol boat

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Maybe the translation from Korean to English isn’t up to snuff, or maybe the Koreans have delusions of grandeur, but these Gumdoksuri/PKG hulls rate as a corvette at best. A up-gunned OPV if nothing else. Jeez! This pup only displaces 500 tons. A true destroyer like the Type 45 displaces 8,500 and an Arleigh Burke displaces 9,200. Still… nice to have domestic yards producing a steady stream of vessels for a government that sees the importance of naval power (British govt take note!).

S. Korean Navy receives its 12th guided-missile destroyer

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) — The South Korean Navy has taken delivery of its 12th domestically built guided-missile destroyer, which will join patrol missions to defend the nation’s shoreline and harbor waters, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said Monday.

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. delivered the newest PKG-class (Patrol Killer, Guided Missile) patrol ship to the Navy command, located in Jinhae, some 410 kilometers south of Seoul.

The 450-ton high-speed ship can sail at a top speed of 40 knots and is equipped with anti-ship missiles that have a range of 140 kilometers.

It is also fitted with 76mm and 40mm guns, and can accommodate 40 crew members.

The ship will join Navy patrol missions after two months of deployment, the DAPA said.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/11/04/43/0301000000AEN20131104001100315F.html

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3 videos of Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon in action (2013)

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US Navy and Royal Navy complete anti-submarine exercise in Mediterranean

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Vessels involved in the multinational exercise included the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107), the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon (D35) and Traflalgar-class submarine HMS Talent (S92).

USS Stout Works with Royal Navy to Improve Anti-Submarine Warfare

Release Date: 10/18/2013 1700 Story 647
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray, USS Stout (DDG 55) Public Affairs

MEDITERRANEAN SEA- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) completed a Coordinated Anti-Submarine Warfare exercise (CASEX) with the Royal Navy, Oct. 15-16.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Oct. 16, 2013) – Cmdr. Andrew Fitzpatrick, executive officer of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55), uses binoculars to keep watch during a coordinated anti-submarine warfare exercise with the USS Gravely (USS 107) and the British Royal Navy air-defense destroyer HMS Dragon (D35). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray/Released)

The exercise also included USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107), the Trafalager Class Nuclear Submarine HMS Talent (592), the Royal Navy airdefense destroyer HMS Dragon (D35), and aircraft support from both countries.

“This particular exercise was called a blocking evolution,” said combat information center officer Lt. j.g. Luqman Haskett. “We did not know where the submarine was, but we knew where they wanted to go. So the goal was to try and track them and prevent them from reaching their desired location.”

The surface ships and aircraft utilized simulated weapons and tactics to locate and execute the target. The exercise took place over a span of 12 hours. Each ship and aircraft was responsible for monitoring a specific area to maintain contact with the submarine.

We were able to sharpen our skills so that we are prepared if a real scenario arises,” said Sonar Technician (Surface) 3rd Class Emily Sandomierski. “Some of us are just out of school, and this gave us a real life experience and helped show us the importance of what we do.”

The exercise, designed to assist ships in tracking and eliminating enemy submarine contacts and to assist the submarine in remaining undetected, increases knowledge and proficiency for anti-submarine warfare.

“The exercise went really well. It was a great opportunity to work with NATO forces and combine aircraft and surface ships to combine tracking on a live submarine, which we don’t get to do very often,” said operations officer, Lt. Jeffrey Applebaugh. “It was a good exercise and educational for our Sailers. Stout did well, and we had the most contact time out of everyone by a significant margin.”

Stout, Barry, and Gravely, all homeported in Norfolk, Va., are on a scheduled deployment supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operation.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Oct. 16, 2013) – The British Royal Navy Trafalager Class Nuclear Submarine HMS Talent (S92) participates in a coordinated anti-submarine warfare exercise. The exercise also involved U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class Guided-missile destroyers, USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107) pulls along side the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) for a photo exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray/Released)

http://www.c6f.navy.mil/article647center.html

{groan!} “Here Are All The Things the British Military Can’t Do Anymore “

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On face value it would be tempting to dismiss this article as a hatchet job by a Texan blogger. I’m sure that many American readers of Foreign Policy are going to reblog it with glee. (Because, you know, ‘Murica showed up in two world wars and saved Yurop’s ass, right?) But I genuinely don’t think that was Beckhusen’s intent. He’s merely cataloging facts that any observer of British naval policy already knows. He’s cataloging those facts for an audience (Americans) that might not be paying that much attention. They’ve got their own budget battles, procurement snafus, ship decommissionings and operational overreach to worry about. So if, charitably, 1% of the article’s American readership actually pays attention to what Beckhusen is trying to point out, then that’s a bloody good thing. The other 99% can repeat the hackneyed trope of “savin’ Yurop’s ass” and we needn’t worry about them. So… here’s the article:

Here Are All The Things the British Military Can’t Do Anymore

In late September, the Royal Navy unveiled its latest nuclear-powered Astute-class submarine, HMS Artful, and also “christened” the hefty but sleek Daring-class destroyer HMS Duncan — the sixth and last of its class. Aside from the United Kingdom’s aircraft carrier program, these represent the two most significant naval shipbuilding programs happening in Britain at the moment. And two of the most controversial.

The vessels are impressive on the surface, but each ship originates from troubled development programs which — although coming with creature comforts and advanced technology — turned out to be less than impressive when put to the test.

New submarines running aground, older subs breaking down and destroyers put into service without adequate defenses against enemy submarines. It’s not completely surprising. The Ministry of Defence’s budget is half that of 30 years ago.

Perhaps more troubling for the Royal Navy: the vessels tasked with carrying Britain’s military into the 21st century have sacrificed key systems needed to defend against attacks, while suffering limitations in their ability to strike back at enemy planes and missiles.

Meanwhile, Royal Air Force ocean patrol planes that once buzzed the ocean scooping every signal they could detect have been cut altogether, meaning the surface ships are sailing blind — and Britain’s nuclear-missile force is sailing without escorts.

Here’s what Britain’s military can’t do. Or if it does do it, it doesn’t do it well.

HMS Duncan departs for sea trials on Aug. 31, 2012. Mark Harkin/Wikimedia Commons photo

Absent frigates and troubled destroyers

This is the Daring-class destroyer. It is one of the most embarrassing military programs in the British armed forces.

It wasn’t meant to be this way. Intended to replace the Type 42 destroyer which first entered service in the 1970s, the Daring class was envisioned as an 8,000-ton, 152-meter-long vessel with anti-air and anti-submarine capabilities par excellence. The centerpiece: an anti-aircraft system called Sea Viper with a Sampson dual-band radar capable of tracking 1,000 objects the size of a tennis ball as far away as 400 kilometers.

The system also has two different types of anti-aircraft missiles: the Aster 15 medium-range missile and its long-range cousin, the Aster 30, which can travel up to an impressive 75 miles. There’s also a 4.5-inch main gun for surface targets.

The Royal Navy is acutely aware of its need for robust destroyers with advanced anti-aircraft systems, principally owing to the Falklands War. Two Type 42 destroyers, the HMS Sheffield and Coventry, were sunk during the war by low-flying Argentinian aircraft. The Sea Viper system is also a big improvement over the Type 42’s radar.

But the Royal Navy built a ship with major weaknesses where it should be strong. For one, Sea Viper’s planned inter-ship communication system was to be added later, meaning one destroyer can’t share information via a satellite network with other ships. The complexity of all the new electronic systems and shoddy oversight also led to repeated delays and ballooning costs.

And there’s a problem with the missiles. The Aster 15s are fine for a lone incoming anti-ship missile — the Aster 15 is highly maneuverable and functions as a both short- and medium-range defense weapon. But the missiles take up a lot of space and can’t be “quad-packed” into a missile tube.

This reduces the number of available Aster 15s to a mere 20 missiles compared to the 96 missiles carried by the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The number is even fewer than the advanced (but much smaller) Sachsen-class frigates of the German navy, which carry 32 missiles — and that was already on the low-end. In the event of an enemy saturation attack — like a blitz but with anti-ship missiles instead of linebackers — the air-defense-focused Daring class could be in serious trouble.

Radar-guided Phalanx guns, which throw up a wall of 20-millimeter rounds as a last resort against incoming missiles, were not installed on the lead ship of the class until this year. Oh, and unlike the Type 42, the destroyer has no torpedo tubes to defend against attacking submarines. This job is left for the destroyer’s helicopters and — either a single Merlin or a pair of Lynx choppers — and a torpedo decoy system. The ship has no missiles for attacking land targets.

The Royal Navy has also built fewer Darings than it ever did for the now-retired Type 42. Cost-cutting measures forced a trim to the number of planned destroyers from 12 to eight ships, and then to a final number of only six ships. (The Royal Navy built 14 Type 42s.) So the Daring class is an anti-aircraft ship that’s fewer in number than its predecessor, with several major anti-air weaknesses and the ship has a major weakness against submarines.

The total price for the ships is now $10.35 billion?-?$2.4 billion more than anticipated — and was enough for one U.S. Naval War College report to describe the Daring class as “a symbol in the United Kingdom for mismanagement of procurement.”

That’s not all. The Royal Navy has retired the anti-submarine Type 22 frigate and doesn’t have the money to replace it. Also first dating to the 1970s, none of the 14 Type 22s are still in service — the last four of the line were sold for scrap in 2011. Thirteen Type 23 frigates are still in service, though.

But the Type 22 was Britain’s primary anti-submarine warfare ship. The Type 22 also doubled as the Royal Navy’s ship-based signals intelligence force. The ships contained the “only combination of systems enabling wide ranging monitoring of the frequencies and wavelengths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum of the sea,” Parliament’s Defense Committee noted in 2012. Now that’s gone.

Nimrod MRA4. BAE Systems/Wikimedia Commons photo

Maritime reconnaissance planes turned to scrap

Let this sink in for a second. The United Kingdom has no dedicated maritime patrol planes.

That’s a pretty big deal. Patrol planes are more or less a requirement for a navy worth its sea-faring salt, and many coastal countries without sizable navies have at least some planes for ocean patrol missions. Even Denmark and Peru have maritime patrol planes.

They’re the eyes and ears of a fleet, and use a combination of radar, sonar buoys and other sensors to detect enemy ships or conduct search and rescue missions. The U.K. has also long used maritime surveillance aircraft to track Russian submarines navigating north of Scotland, peeking on naval maneuvers in the Arctic Sea and escorting the Royal Navy’s own ballistic missile subs.

For much of the Cold War, the Royal Air Force tasked this mission to the Nimrod MR1 and MR2 planes, which first entered service in 1969. An advanced aircraft for its time, the older Nimrods were eventually retired in 2011 to be replaced by the modern Nimrod MRA4.

The new Nimrod was supposed to be a major upgrade, and entailed rebuilding the plane from the inside out. There was going to be new engines and larger wings. New sensor systems would let the MRA4 see from longer distances, and the design enabled it to travel up to 2,500 miles further than its predecessor.

Upgrading the Nimrods proved to be an impossible task for an absurd reason. The planes are based on the de Havilland Comet, a 1950s-era commercial airliner which had been transformed over several generations during military service. But the Comet was never built to a standard — they were custom made. This means each plane is slightly different than the others, and thus exorbitant to upgrade when installing millions of dollars worth of advanced electronics.

Only one MRA4 was ever built. “The single MRA4 aircraft that had been delivered to the RAF was so riddled with flaws it could not pass its flight tests, it was simply unsafe to fly,” Liam Fox, the former British Secretary of Defence, wrote in the The Telegraph in 2011.

Fox was attempting to justify the complete scrapping of the program?-?it wasn’t easy. Twelve under-construction MRA4s were disassembled, and more than $6.3 billion went down the drain. The U.K. is now considering buying P-3 Orion patrol planes from the United States to fill the gap.

HMS Astute run aground. PenumbraLpz /Wikimedia Commons

Rusty and broken submarines

In theory, the Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine is the most advanced British submarine ever built. In reality it’s underpowered, prone to numerous technical problems and is far behind schedule.

A replacement for Britain’s Trafalgar-class submarines, the 7,000-ton Astute class uses a Thales sonar — touted by the Royal Navy as the world’s best (which it might be) — while packing a combination of 38 Spearfish torpedoes and/or Tomahawk missiles. The sub also does not have a conventional periscope but a photonics mast, like a digital camera capable of seeing in infrared. There have been two Astute-class subs commissioned, the HMS Astute and Ambush. Four more are under construction, and a seventh is planned.

But neither Astute nor Ambush have become operational, owing to a number of problems and delays leaving the Royal Navy with only five aging Trafalgar-class subs in service. These older subs will be gradually decommissioned over the decade, and there’s rarely a time when a single Trafalgar-class sub is operational at any given time due to maintenance issues. HMS Tireless was put out of action earlier this year after a reactor coolant leak.

But what’s the problem with the Astute class? The main problem — and most serious — is that it’s achingly slow.

Designed to travel faster than 30 knots, the sub tops out below that (though how far below hasn’t been revealed). This means it can’t keep up with the ships like the under-construction Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers it’s meant to protect. In battle, that’s a potentially fatal flaw for the submarine and the carrier.

The reason for the trouble is believed to be incompatibility between the sub’s steam turbines which were built for the Trafalgar-class, and its nuclear reactor which was built for the giant Vanguard-class ballistic missile subs, according to The Guardian. Among other problems include corrosion, faulty monitoring instruments for the submarine’s reactor and even flooding during a dive. Astute also quite literally ran aground in Scotland in 2010 and had to be rescued.

Left out of this, of course, is the Harrier force. The Royal Navy’s carrier-launched jump jets were retired in late 2010, meaning the U.K. no longer has fixed-wing jets capable of operating from Britain’s one remaining ski-jump carrier, the Illustrious. However, the Royal Navy has pledged to buy F-35s for the Queen Elizabeth class. It may want to reconsider before more problems arise.

Robert Beckhusen is a collection editor at War is Boring, the site that explores how and why we fight above, on and below an angry world.

http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/14/all_the_things_the_british_military_can_t_do_anymore