HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers, is preparing to return to sea after an extended period of refit and regeneration, according to a parliamentary answer from Defence Minister Luke Pollard.
Responding to a written question from Ben Obese-Jecty MP, Pollard said:
“HMS Daring entered service on 31 July 2010 and has delivered effect on operations since. As with all Royal Navy vessels, during her in service period there have been periods of ‘planned’ unavailability including Daring’s Propulsion Improvement Programme (PIP) which commenced in October 2021, completing in January 2023. Since her return to His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, HMS Daring has been re-generating and has received several capability upgrades.”
The Ministry of Defence declined to release figures on the exact number of days the destroyer has spent at sea or under repair, citing the existing schedule of readiness reporting to the House of Commons Defence Committee.
Daring’s regeneration marks a big moment for the Type 45 fleet, which has undergone major engineering work under the Power Improvement Project. The programme replaces the class’s original propulsion system with more reliable and efficient engines designed to enhance endurance and electrical capacity for future weapons and sensors.
Since being withdrawn from operational service in 2017, HMS Daring has spent more than 3,000 days in refit, a period longer than the time it took to build her. Now, with upgraded power and combat systems, the destroyer is crewing up for sea trials ahead of rejoining front-line service.
Good news. We have all been awaiting this for some time.
Perhaps an extending period of operational activity for the T45s is now possible.
You never know the next few years might see images of all T45s at sea together.
Best looking ships on the seas IMO.
Nonsense. The Admiral Gorshkov frigates are much more handsome.
Look a little old fashioned to me. No style.
Just how George could resist putting “Extended” in quotation marks shows what a true Steely Eyed Journalist he is. Me I’d have stuck 🤭 emoji in as well.
Just to put this “extended” into context.
HMS Daring was laid down 28/03/03 and commissioned on 23/07/09 that’s 2309 days.
HMS Daring was laid up 01/06/17 and up to today that’s 3063 days.
For once I just have no words to express my feelings !
“The Ministry of Defence declined to release figures on the exact number of days the destroyer has spent at sea or under repair”
Hiding. Come out, you charlatans.
“HMS Daring entered service on 31 July 2010 and has delivered effect on operations since.”
Apart from sitting at Pompey since 2017. Delivered effect? So in plain English, it conducted operations and conducted training.
A book of stunningly inept, obvious, untrue, or half truth quotes from MoD Spokespeople or Ministers would be quite something.
I think you could say that there is a positive side to this. Most of the class have spent extended time out of service, alright Daring seems to have been the longest, but that means that they have not been run hard and most of the basic systems, hydraulics fire mains etc have not been subject to usual use. This should mean that it will be possible to extend the life of the class further than the current OSD. Given that on past MOD/ government performance the Type 83, or whatever it turns out to be will not emerge into the sunlight till goodness knows when, I expect the 45’s will be around for a good while.
Agreed, and you may well be right! A fortunate bye product of, I assume, being cannibalised for spares for years.
Maybe they have a “cunning plan” all along to preserve what little assets we have left.
Not sure there is much of a plan, and I doubt it’s very cunning!!
There might even be time to squeeze a few more type 26 frigates into the yards for the RN before a switch to type 83.
No chance
They could extend their lives further just by keeoing them in dock permanently then.
What you obviously do not realise, Daring was providing static air defence of a very important establishment all of that time.
Unsure of jokiing but, if not, good, it’s needed.
Wouldn’t a land based GBAD element using the Sampson radar on Portsdown Hill be more appropriate?
They could home port 2 each at HMNBs Portsmouth, Devonport and Faslane and thats quite a few key establishments, not just the HMNBs, but other sites clustered around them, covered.
Fabulous stuff. 🙂
No. It was providing spares for the other 5 ships.
No, honestly !
Well? My car is just the same 🤔🤔😂😂😂
Meanwhile in Singapore they are building new (and very capable) warships in 12-months. Maybe we should outsource some of our navy refit program…(they are allies after all)
https://www.twz.com/sea/singapore-launches-its-biggest-and-most-capable-warship-ever
Should have had Cat’s and Trap’s from the bloody beginning, that’s what I say. 😠
Those pesky mice!
Ha !
“planned” unavailabilty…..for eight years !
Vanguard was out of service for about seven and a half years. Is Duncan is a one-upman ship?
I meant to type Daring, but my fingers had other ideas. Curse the lack of edit!
The Defence Minister gave no indication of WHEN Daring will be declared operational, and absent that his statement takes the matter no further forward.
It will be a big improvement to see her programmed to run under her own power….
Sorry couldn’t resist that….
Watch as it’s now taken out of service for an NSM and Sea Ceptor silo install!
I doubt that will happen immediately.
Much more likely to be programmed in with other works.
The NSM/CAMM install should surely be done prior to her coming back into service if she’s been laid up that long?!
They’re focused on getting the basics just working again
As I have said before, the plan to upgrade the AAW of T45 with CAMM was not funded for the required equipment with orders, at the time when Hms Daring first went in for refit, then PIP.
Ha ha……..planningtastic
Its the MoD afterall
Wait a minute…return to service? Yeah right, pull my other leg, its got bells on.
It says “re-joining frontline service”, it doesn’t say with which navy
🙂 I love a fellow cynic.
Apparently It will be worked up alongside the Gosport Ferry before venturing out into the Solent in 2035.
This is fantastalistic news, showcasing just how quickly the UK can move if given the need, what other country can turn around this state of the art, world class capability in such a length of time.
The word ‘re-generating’ is disturbing, re-generating from what exactly? A pitiful run down stare stripped for spares? The same word is being used for HMS Artful, although nothing is being said about HMS Ambush? Someone needs to explain why our subs and ships are the equivalent of RAF hangar queen’s? We simply don’t the numbers to allow this to happen and somebody needs to be held accountable.
No one is held accountable, for decades.
And the public don’t know, or care.
And the politicians know this.
That is the problem.
How can they be held accountable if they are not placed in front of a journalist to ask the right questions and get them squirming.
My Box is closing soon, maybe I should change career!
Yes do it DM, help get us back on track, Signal your Intentions, we’ll all shunt you towards your next platform and i’d buy Tickets as I know you would do a first class job.
Who else would you get on board ?
You’re good at this, aren’t you.
Thanks, I’m “Chuffed”.🚂
May I correct that?
The public don’t know because the information is kept from them with these kind of waffle statements.
Ultimately to hide ongoing mismanagement of budgets in the name of ‘efficiency’.
If the public did know there would be more pressure for action.
Fair.
14 years of inept Tory rule with facilities at shore and not just ships and subs being run down in the name of austerity … Not to mention coping with the Brexit debacle.
Very much so.
That was quick, well within 100 days.
Well done that officer.
Almost 10 years out of service….
And still Dauntless the only 45 to have been successfully completed PIP, and performing as expected, well done that shipyard that completed the work 😉
Dragon has completed it
Technically Daring has, but she required so much more than PIP to make her operational again.
You would hope after all tgis time it would come back into service with NSM and Sea Ceptor… but I should imagine that has not been done and she woll have to go back into dock to have tgat work done….
If I recollect correctly, the answer to a PQ question in August was that HMS Daring would be operational again “in 2026”.
Type 45 Key User Requirement 9: “The T45 shall have a 70% availability to contribute to Maritime Operations over a period of at least 25 years, of which at least 35% will be spent at sea”. This high availability was used to justify the replacement of 12 T42’s with just 6 T45’s. It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at these targets being at least double the real world outcome.
Also, Daring is now only 10 years away from her planned 2035 out of service date! That’s many years before the first T83 is expected to enter service.