Posted on 05/01/2012 7:54:07 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Life on Royal Navy's Falklands-bound HMS Dauntless
It is one of the Royal Navy's most advanced and powerful warships, now on its way to the other side of the world; destination - the Falkland Islands.
HMS Dauntless is the largest destroyer ever built for the Royal Navy, made from nearly 3,000 tonnes of steel. Its wide hull helps to support its two massive radar.
This Type 45 destroyer is radically different in design from earlier warships. The sleek, angled lines means it appears no larger than a fishing boat on another ship's radar. It is the navy's first stealth warship.
This is also the first time that a Type 45 destroyer has been deployed to the Falklands and the first time the navy has invited a TV crew on board a Type 45 during a deployment.
Many of the 200-strong crew were not even born when a much larger task force left to liberate the islands exactly 30 years ago.
But there are still a few veterans of that conflict on board. Weapons engineer Steve Collins was just 18 when he was on HMS Antelope, sunk by the Argentine air force in San Carlos Sound, better known as Bomb Alley. That was his very first deployment. And this will be his last.
He says he is looking forward to seeing the islands once again and visiting the memorials. But he also insists the deployment is nothing out of the ordinary.
Gary Morris, another Falklands veteran serving on board, also dismisses talk that this deployment to the South Atlantic is an act of "provocation" towards Argentina.
It is, he says, routine to have a Royal Navy warship protecting a piece of sovereign British territory.
The ship's captain, Will Warren
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
What is their single T42 going to do against the SSN the Argentines claim we have down there ?
What is the entire Argentine navy, which you have listed in its almost entirety, going to do in an actual shooting war ?
The point is, its not a shooting war right now. If it was, it wouldn’t be a single T45 going down there so any discussion about a single ship being able to take on everything the Argentines have its a waste of your time.
What is their single T42 going to do against the SSN the Argentines claim we have down there ?
What is the entire Argentine navy, which you have listed in its almost entirety, going to do in an actual shooting war ?
The point is, its not a shooting war right now. If it was, it wouldn’t be a single T45 going down there so any discussion about a single ship being able to take on everything the Argentines have its a waste of your time.
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