page_title: Type 45 destroyer
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Type 45 destroyer / Development / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: I, Adrian Jones, am the author of this photograph. I give full consent for this image to be public domain and used freely. It was taken at HMNB Portsmouth on Saturday July 2nd 2005. This image may also be found along with others on my website: http://www.uss-sheffield.co.uk. According to the uploader: VT Group plc, which owns the yard, did allow photography in the areas photographed. Nothing in those photographs is in a classified or secret area.
context_page_description: The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or Daring class, is a class of six guided missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS air-defence system utilizing the SAMPSON AESA and the S1850M long-range radars. The first three destroyers were assembled by BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions from partially prefabricated "blocks" built at different shipyards; the remaining three were built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. The first ship in the Daring class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009.
  The Type 45 destroyers were built to replace the Type 42 destroyers that had served during the Falklands War, with the last Type 42 being decommissioned in 2013. The National Audit Office reported that, during an "intensive attack", a single Type 45 could simultaneously track, engage and destroy more targets than five Type 42 destroyers operating together.
context_section_description: The Type 45 destroyers take advantage of some Horizon development work and use the Sea Viper air-defence system and the SAMPSON radar. The ships are built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships, originally created as BVT Surface Fleet by the merger of the surface shipbuilding arms of BAE Systems and VT Group. These two companies previously built the ships in collaboration. BAE's two Glasgow shipyards and single Portsmouth shipyard are responsible for different "blocks". BAE's Govan yard is responsible for Block A (stern to edge of helicopter hangar). The Scotstoun yard builds Blocks B/C (a 2600 tonne section which contains the Rolls-Royce WR-21 gas turbines, starts with the helicopter hangar to the bridge section) and Block D (bridge section itself). BAE's Portsmouth shipyard is responsible for Blocks E/F (bridge to the bow) and the funnels and masts. For ships 2 to 6 blocks A-D were assembled in the Ships Block and Outfit Hall of the Govan shipyard, and taken fully outfitted to the Scotstoun berth. The masts and funnels were also fitted before launch.
  For the first-of-class, Block A was assembled at Govan and moved to Scotstoun, where it was mated to Block B/C, which was already fitted with the WR-21 turbines and machinery. Block D, also assembled at Scotstoun, was fitted to these three blocks. The bow sections (E/F) were mated at Portsmouth and taken by barge to Scotstoun. These were the final blocks to be attached. At this point the hull was launched into the Clyde and towed to the Scotstoun Dry Dock where the masts and funnels were fitted (the masts are partially outfitted with equipment, for example the mast for the S1850M radar is sent from Portsmouth to Thales Nederland to be fitted with radar equipment). Once this is complete, the remaining equipment is fitted: radar arrays, bow-mounted sonar, propellers, missile equipment and 4.5-inch gun.
  This modular construction arrangement was agreed in February 2002. However, when the original contract for three ships was signed in July 2000, BAE Systems Marine was to build the first and third ships, and Vosper Thornycroft (now VT) was to build the second.
  By the end of 2010, all six Type 45 destroyers had been launched, with the first two in commission and the remainder fitting out. By 2012, all destroyers were structurally complete and the production lines had been closed. Duncan, the last of the Type 45 destroyers, was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base on 26 September 2013, and entered service in 2014 after trials and training.
  The Daring class are the largest escorts ever built for the Royal Navy in terms of displacement.
  In 2009 delivery of the ships' Aster missiles was delayed due to a manufacturing fault with a single batch of missiles identified during testing.
caption: Construction of blocks of Dauntless at Portsmouth.
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