NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2011
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warfare... Cutting through a remarkably calm English Channel on her way to her future home for the first time is HMS Dragon, ship No.4 in the £6bn Type 45 programme.
Officer Cdr Darren Houston proclaims, the most complete and most capable of the futuristic destroyers yet handed over to the Royal Navy.
And she is, her Commanding
SO THIS must be symmetric
That handover came shortly after the ship made her inaugural entry into Portsmouth Harbour on the final day of August, 2011. There were some 100 early risers – largely, though not exclusively, relatives of the ship’s company – on the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth to witness the occasion.
She glided past the historic gateway to Portsmouth Harbour with the Red Ensign flying and with distinctive red dragon motifs on her bow. Both are now gone. The afternoon of her arrival, Dragon was formally handed over to the Royal Navy for safekeeping for the next 25-plus years, and her mixed RN-civilian crew was replaced by an entirely Senior Service one (there were some 100 Dragons waiting on the jetty to join the ship for the first time).
The transfer to the RN marks the end of nearly six years’ work by shipwrights, technicians and engineers in Portsmouth and on the Clyde (the first steel for the ship was cut back in December 2005). Around 100 BAE employees watched the ship leave BAE’s Scotstoun yard, where she’s been fitted out since launch. And the two fiery banners? Well, now Dragon’s officially one of Her Majesty’s Ships, the motifs are deemed ‘inappropriate’, compromise the Type 45’s camouflage (although at nearly 9,000 tonnes with a distinctive silhouette she does rather stand out visually...) and maintaining them could prove costly. So dragons be gone by the time you
read this (much to the disappointment of some of the ship’s company and quite a few Welshmen – the destroyer, aptly, is affiliated with Cardiff – who had petitioned for the mythical beasts to be retained)... More importantly, of course, is turning this 500ft leviathan into a sleek grey messenger of death – which means a lot of training for the 180-strong ship’s company in the months ahead. Dragon has already come through two extensive periods of sea trials while still in BAE’s hands – during which she surpassed all previous expectations (and, to date, the entire Type 45 programme has proven to be more capable on trials than anticipated) – so she arrived in Portsmouth, says Cdr Houston, “in top condition for the rigours of the next stage of her sea trials and the challenges ahead.
“Dragon is eager to play her part and we can start operating the newest and most advanced warship in the world.” While Dragon was paying her first visit to Portsmouth, her older sister Dauntless became the first 45 to sail into the capital.
The ship was the star naval attraction at the Defence and Security Equipment International show at the ExCeL Centre in London’s Docklands – widely regarded as one of the world’s premier showcases for defence firms and technology. Indeed some 1,300 companies from 50 nations were looking to attract interest from the 25,000 visitors.
In the case of Dauntless, she was at the event to represent, in the words of her Commanding Officer Capt Will Warrender, “the future for the Royal Navy” and “the newest military technology”. He continued: “The ship represents the finest shipbuilding skills the UK has to offer and is a great example of the high standards and capabilities of the British defence manufacturing base.” He will be taking Dauntless to sea on her first operational deployment in 2012, as will his counterparts in Daring and Diamond – the first three Type 45s are all classed materially ready for front-line deployments.
Still being fitted out on the Clyde are ships five (Defender) and six (Duncan) which will be handed over to the RN in 2012 and 2013 respectively, thus bringing to an end the ten-year programme to replace the veteran Type 42 destroyers.
Here be Dragon
picture: la(phot) nicky wilson, rnas yeovilton
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