Royal Navy Launches New Destroyer

The Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom reports that the Royal Navy has launched a brand-new destroyer, dubbed the Diamond, from the shipyard at Govan, on the Clyde.

The launch was witnessed by thousands of people including many thousand school children.

The destroyer is a Type 45, the most modern that the Royal Navy has. It replaces the older Type 42. It has an extremely modern look, with a tall, minimalist superstructure that hides much equipment inside in order to reduce radar visibility. The ship carries an ultramodern missile defense system designed to protect the ship from missile attack from more than one missile at a time. The system can also protect other ships in a task force, for example, large aircraft carriers that do rely on the smaller destroyers for help with missile and air defense.

While the Royal Navy has in recent years reduced the number of ships in its fleet, the new destroyer is part of a major shipbuilding plan.

But this kind of ship is not limited to Cold War era roles. It is also adaptable to anti-insurgency campaigns, because of its capability of carrying 60 Royal Marines or special forces soldiers, and their equipment. It can deploy those Marines with the helicopter that the ship carries on its flight deck. The Marines will arrive at their destination in better shape than ever before because of their more spacious accommodations. Previous destroyers were not designed as troop carriers, so Marines were often crushed into small spaces below deck.

Other type 45 destroyers are already at sea. At least another two are under construction. Their names are Daring, Dragon and Defender.

The ships also have the capability, with their long-range radar, to coordinate air defense for their task forces, telling air units where to deploy, identifying targets, and allocating resources to destroy those targets. The helicopters, some quite large, that can be deployed from the destroyers are capable of carrying torpedoes for launch at surface or subsurface craft.

The type 45 destroyer also has capacity to add additional weapons systems, like gattling guns to shoot down incoming missiles or airplanes.

The ship is, therefore, usable as a freestanding, self-supporting force, or it can be integrated into a larger task force. This flexibility is extremely important in a world where terrorists make dispersed attacks and establish dispersed bases sometimes thousands of miles apart. The ship and its Marines can be rushed to areas of conflict, they can support diplomatic staff all over the world, and they can be used to root out terrorist groups far inland, as well as used to fight terrorists who operate in the sea lanes.

Because of these capabilities destroyers will become more and more important in the coming years.

Diamond Cuts the Waves, Min. of Defence