Daring - class destroyer ( 1949 ) The " Daring " class was a class of eleven destroyers built for the Royal Navy ( RN ) and Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) . 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 ( MGP ) . 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 also the last destroyers of the RN and RAN to possess guns as their main armament ( instead of guided missiles ) , 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 . Following decommissioning , two RN " Daring " s were sold to the MGP , which operated one ship until 1993 and the other until 2007 . One ship of the class is preserved : as a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum . Design . The " Daring " s were the largest destroyers then built ( 1949 ) for the RN , having a displacement of 3 , 820 tonnes , a length of , a beam of , and a draught of . The " Daring " s 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 . " Daring " s 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 " Daring " s 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 " Daring " s were instead fitted with two twin and two single Bofors mounts . Radar Type 293 was carried on the foremast for target indication . Like the earlier , the " Daring " s 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 , 850 °F ) hitherto unheard of in the conservative Royal Navy , allowing great savings in weight and efficiency to be made . 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 . / - inch armour plating was added to the turrets , the bridge and the fire control cable runs . Construction . British . The Royal Navy ships were built in two groups , one with the traditional DC electrical system ( " Daring " , " Dainty " , " Defender " and " Delight " ) and the remaining ships ( " Decoy " , " Diamond " , " Diana " and " Duchess " ) , with a modern AC system . They were known as the 2nd and 5th Destroyer Squadrons , respectively . Two of the ships , " Danae " and " Delight " , were originally part of the , though only " Delight " ( originally " Ypres " , then " Disdain " , before finally being renamed " Delight " ) was commissioned . They were to have been of all - welded construction , but " Daring " , " Decoy " , and " Diana " were built with a composite of welding and riveting . Australian . The Royal Australian Navy initially ordered four " Daring " - class destroyers , which were to be named after the ships of the " Scrap Iron Flotilla " of World War II . The ships were modified during construction : most changes were made to improve habitability , including the installation of air - conditioning . The " Daring " s were also the first all - welded ships to be constructed in Australia . The first Australian " Daring " was laid down in 1949 . By 1950 , it was already apparent that the Australian " Daring " s would not be completed on time , as the Australian dockyards were experiencing difficulty in keeping up with the construction schedule . To compensate for this , the RAN unsuccessfully attempted to purchase two of the " Daring " s under construction in the United Kingdom , and considered acquiring ships from the United States Navy despite the logistical difficulties in supplying and maintaining American vessels in a predominately British - designed fleet . Only three ships were completed ; , , and were commissioned between 1957 and 1959 . By the time they were commissioned , the cost of each ship had increased from A£ 2 . 6 million to A£7 million . Cancelled ships . Eight further " Daring " - class destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy were cancelled on 27 December 1945 : " Danae " , " Decoy " , " Delight " , " Demon " , " Dervish " , " Desire " , " Desperate " and " Diana " . Consequently , the ships of this class originally ordered as " Disdain " , " Dogstar " , " Dragon " and " Druid " were renamed as " Delight " , " Defender " , " Decoy " and " Diana " to perpetuate the names of the original " D " - class flotilla of the 1930s . The fourth Australian " Daring " , to be named " Waterhen " was laid down in 1952 but cancelled in 1954 and scrapped on the slipway . This was one of several cost - cutting measures to maintain a naval aviation force based around two aircraft carriers . British modifications . In 1958 , the ' DC ' group had their after torpedo tubes removed and replaced with a deckhouse providing additional accommodation facilities . This modification was made in the ' AC ' ships in 1959 - 1960 . Also at the same time , the ' AC ' s had their STAAG mounts replaced with single mount Mark 7 Bofors and had the director Mark VI replaced by the new director MRS - 3 ( medium range system ) incorporating the Radar Type 903 for fire control . The Sea Cat missile launcher was fitted briefly to " Decoy " for acceptance trials in 1961 , but it was later removed and never fitted to the rest of the " Daring " s as had been envisaged . Between 1962 and 1964 , the ' DC ' group had their STAAG mounts replaced by the Mark V also , with the final set of torpedo tubes being removed at the same time . This group also had the director MRS - 3 replace the Mark VI . Service and fate . The class saw service with the RN from the early 1950s to the early 1970s , and with the RAN from the late 1950s to the late 1970s , with " Vampire " in service as a training ship until 1986 . Several of the ships were also involved in Cold War conflicts . " Delight " , " Duchess " , " Vampire " and " Vendetta " were involved in the Indonesian Confrontation . " Vendetta " also operated during the Vietnam War ; the only Australian - built warship to fight in the conflict . Only one ship of the class was lost . On the night of 10 February 1964 , " Voyager " crossed the bows of the aircraft carrier and was rammed and sunk with the loss of 81 RAN personnel and one civilian contractor . " Duchess " was loaned to the RAN as a replacement for four years while replacements ( two modified River class destroyer escort s ) were constructed , but was then sold to the RAN . The British " Daring " s received little modernisation , and were all decommissioned as obsolete during the early 1970s . Two of these , " Diana " and " Decoy " , were sold to the Peruvian Navy and renamed BAP " Palacios " and BAP " Ferré " respectively . These two ships were modernised , with " Palacios " serving until 1993 , and " Ferré " decommissioning in 2007 . The RAN ships were modernised in the early 1970s at a cost of A $ 20 million , although modifications to " Duchess " were fewer than to her sister ships . " Duchess " and " Vendetta " remained in commission until the late 1970s , and " Vampire " was retained until 1986 as a training ship . The Australian " Daring " s were replaced with the s , an American - built derivative of the " Charles F . Adams " - class guided missile destroyer . The training role of the " Daring " s was first supplemented , then replaced , by . After decommissioning , " Vampire " became a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney ; the only ship of the class to be preserved . An unidentified " Daring " - class destroyer played the fictional " HMS " Sherwood " " in the 1957 A . E . Matthews film comedy " Carry On Admiral " . There are a number of profile shots of the ship in Portsmouth dockyard , as well as detailed views above and below decks , and an interesting sequence showing the accidental firing of a torpedo at the admiral ' s barge .