The ‘Daring’ Truth!
From Save the Royal Navy, the truth of the fleet’s newest £650 million ($930 million US) destroyer:
Late and over-budget, she is the first of only 6 ships (replacing a class of 14 Type 42 destroyers). She is under-equipped having no automated CIWS close-in weapons system (such as Phalanx or Goalkeeper). She is not fitted with Tomahawk missiles as originally intended (surely a vital weapon particularly relevant to today’s conflicts). Her crew of 195 is an absolute bare minimum and even with much automation they would be very stretched in a war situation or in event of battle damage.
Much as I posted on the American LCS the other day, you can’t help but feel you are getting mediocre quality for the excessive amount the West spends on platforms. Maybe we should shoot for mediocre to begin with a save a few million pounds!
Ha ha! And we name ours after politicians for a different reason. They have the money!
The HMS Daring ought to be fully equipped – w/ Tomahawks or Storm Shadows + Goalkeeper. I presume there are still some Falklands veterans around who’d speak up if they could.
Oh and they ought to rename these warships after the First Ladies of Britain – that’ll make the politicians be a tad bit more desiring of ship quality.
Or just about any Euro-frigate! But I would hardly call it “WORLD’S DEADLIEST DESTROYER” without Tomahawks.
Compared to the $600 million price for the LCS, $930 million for even an under-equipped Daring seems like a downright bargain!