page_title: Daring-class destroyer (1949)
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Daring-class destroyer (1949) / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: The picture shows a line drawing of the UK Daring-class destroyer, first laid down in 1945.
context_page_description: The Daring class was a class of eleven destroyers built for the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. Constructed after World War II, and entering service during the 1950s, eight ships were constructed for the RN, and three ships for the RAN. Two of the RN destroyers were subsequently sold to and served in the Peruvian Navy. A further eight ships were planned for the RN but were cancelled before construction commenced, while a fourth RAN vessel was begun but was cancelled before launch and broken up on the slipway.
  The Daring-class ships were both the largest and most heavily armed ships serving in Commonwealth navies to be classified as destroyers. They were intended to fill some of the duties of cruisers, which post WW2 were considered both expensive and obsolete by naval planners, and were briefly officially considered a hybrid type before being rated as destroyers. They were also the last destroyers of the RN and RAN to possess guns as their main armament, which saw use during the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War.
  The Daring-class destroyers were in service in the RN and RAN from the 1950s to the 1980s.
context_section_description: The 'Darings' were the largest destroyers then built (1949) for the RN, having a displacement of 3,820 tonnes, a length of 390 feet (120 m), a beam of 43 feet (13 m), and a draught of 12.75 feet (3.89 m).
  The Darings were the last conventional gun destroyers of the RN, and were armed with the QF 4.5 inch /45 (113 mm) Mark V gun in three double mounts UD Mk.VI (later renamed simply Mark N6). The main armament was controlled by a director Mark VI fitted with Radar Type 275 on the bridge and a director CRBF (close range blind fire) aft with Radar Type 262 providing local control for 'X' turret on aft arcs. Remote Power Control (RPC) was provided for the main armament. Darings were capable of a rate of fire of 16 rounds per minute per gun, or about 100 rounds per minute overall.
  They were designed to ship three twin 40 mm /60 Bofors mounts STAAG Mark II, but the midships one was later replaced by the lighter and more reliable twin Mount Mark V. This meant that the 'Darings' could engage two targets at long range and two at close range under fully automatic radar directed-control, an enormous improvement over their predecessors. Two of the Australian Darings were instead fitted with two twin and two single Bofors mounts. Type 293 was carried on the foremast for target indication.
  Like the earlier Weapon class, the Darings had their machinery arranged on the 'unit' principle, where boiler rooms and engine rooms alternated to increase survivability. The boilers utilised pressures and temperatures (650 psi (45 bar), 850 °F (454 °C)) hitherto unheard of in the conservative Royal Navy, allowing great improvements in efficiency to be made without increasing weight. The wide spacing of the boilers resulted in widely spaced funnels. The forward funnel was trunked up through the lattice foremast (referred to as a mack) with the after funnel a stump amidships. Neither was provided with a casing, resulting in a curious, rather unappealing appearance, although the utility of the funnels was considered by some to enhance the overall appearance. Attempts were made to improve the appearance by adding a streamline case to the funnel, but this was later removed. Of note was a new design of bridge, breaking with a lineage going back to the H-class destroyer of 1936. ³/₈-inch armour plating was added to the turrets, the bridge and the fire control cable runs.
caption: A line drawing of the Daring-class destroyer
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