HMS Duncan
Posted on 12/30/2013 9:35:36 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
HMS Duncan, the UK’s sixth Type 45 Destroyer, has entered into service with the Royal Navy four months ahead of schedule.
The ship was scheduled to enter service in early 2014, but thanks to the hard work of both the ship’s company and industry since her arrival in Portsmouth, HMS Duncan is ready to take up duties.
The 7,500 tonne vessel will now embark on a programme of trials to prepare the ship and her crew for operational deployment.
HMS Duncan is the final Type 45 to enter service with the Royal Navy. Her handover to the Fleet marks the end of a 13 year build programme with BAE Systems to deliver the six ships – Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender and Duncan.
Armed with the world-leading Sea Viper missile defence system which can neutralise threats up to 70 miles away, the Type 45s are the most powerful air defence destroyers ever used by the Royal Navy.
Measuring in at 152 metres in length, HMS Duncan and her sister ships are longer than 16 double decker buses and as tall as an electricity pylon. Her onboard power plant can supply enough electricity to light a town of 80,000 people.
Minister for Defence, Equipment, Support and Technology, Philip Dunne MP said:
“Thanks to the skill and hard work of the Commanding Officer, the Ship’s Company and their MoD and Industry partners, HMS Duncan has entered service four months early. It is testament to the improving control of projects across the Armed Forces and significant dedication across Defence that all six ships of the Type 45 class are now in the hands of the Royal Navy.
“The Type 45 programme has provided the Royal Navy with one of the most sophisticated and effective air defence ships available anywhere in the world. We expect these vessels to see decades of service protecting the UK’s interests around the world, including providing humanitarian aid as we saw recently with HMS Daring’s efforts in the Philippines.”
Commander James Stride RN, HMS Duncan’s Commanding Officer, said:
“The Ship’s Company is rightly proud to be on-board such a cutting edge warship as she becomes a fully fledged member of the operational Fleet.
“HMS Duncan joins the Royal Navy as the most advanced ship we have ever operated alongside the rest of the Type 45 class, able to operate across the globe protecting the Fleet.”
The first Type 45, HMS Daring, arrived in Portsmouth in January 2009 and has since been involved in operations across the globe. Last month the ship provided vital aid and support to the people of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.
The Type 45 Destroyers are committed around the world 365 days a year hunting pirates, drug runners or submarines and defending the Fleet from air attack. All six Type 45s are based at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth which will also be the home to the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers.
HMS Duncan
Is that a dalek on top of the bridge?
I know!
The Daleks!!!
I do believe you’re right.
Clean looking ship. I might have set the bridge a bit higher up for better distance visibility, but I know little about shipbuilding, so maybe they have a reason.
I can tell you from experience...The walk up those ladders up to the bridge level really sucks...;-)
Especially if you were one of the “ratings” volunteered to go get everyone soft drinks, or other beverages on those lonnnggggggg mid watches...hehehe
HMS Duncan, a proud name. Her WWII predecessor was active in the Mediterranean early in the way, escorted Malta convoys and as Peter Gretton’s flagship took part in several key convoy battlers including the battle for convoy SC130 and the battle for ON207 and ON208 where she assisted in sinking U-Boats.
It would be fun if someone could put computer generated WW II "Dazzle paint" on the new HMS Duncan...Those high sides are made for it...
Its called ‘the Kryten Gun’ after the android on ‘Red Dwarf’.
LOLOL! First thing out of my mouth, then scrolled down and read your post.
Heh, my dad, who was not known for telling jokes, told me this one years ago. Now, it is only mildly funny, but...I guess if you were someone who spent much time on a bridge...:)
There was a Captain of a ship who drank a lot of coffee, and continually sent men to the galley several decks down to fetch him a fresh cup. The Captain was irritated because he would end up with only half a cup every time, because the sailors would hightail it up the ladders with the hot coffee to keep it from getting cold on the long journey, but the rushing sailors would inevitably spill much of the coffee in their haste.
The Captain did notice there was one sailor who consistently got the coffee to him faster than everyone else, and the cup was filled full to the brim. He wondered how the sailor did it.
One day, as he looked out a porthole, he saw the young sailor climbing the ladder, two stairs at a time at a nearly full run with a fresh cup of coffee he had requested.
As the sailor reached the top of the ladder and before he opened the hatch to the bridge, he paused, bent, and spit a huge mouthful of coffee back into the cup...
I always had a coffee pot on the bridge.
Gag a maggot on a gut truck!!! hehehehe
Yeah, that coffee machine we had up there in the Quartermasters office (just aft the bridge) was used quite a bit...I even believe they used to buy a new one before every deployment we made...
As for the soft drinks...
Some of us did not drink coffee!!! Gasp!!! I know it is almost sacriligious (sp?) or something...hehehe
The vending machines were down by the Crews Rec Room and the galley...And that was a trip from CIC and the Bridge...
That was back in the day when they brewed that wonderful concoction called “Jolt” soda...It was like having 3-4 cups of coffee...And it tasted pretty good too!!!
Cannot say my Kidneys these days approved of my earlier indulgences...ha
I never drank coffee, either. I did enjoy the wonderful smell of those 10 lb tins of coffee they issued to each department once a month for their coffee mess...I didn’t even drink it, but the smell was intoxicating.
I got pissed, though, because they made me take turns making coffee and such, cleaning the pot and so on, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.
Well, people had their own mugs, and the vast majority of them were really nasty. They never cleaned them. So one day, when I was feeling particularly peeved about having to do this, I cleaned them. That was bad enough that I cleaned them, but I used the waterless aircraft cleaner on them.
They didn’t ask me to run the coffee mess anymore after that.
EX-TER-MIN-NAYT!
Of course, we have THIS now which is no lovely vessel...
She may or may not turn out to be capable, but she sure isn't a looker.
Now THIS is my idea of a beautiful vessel:
Happy New Year!
Huh. The more I look at the dazzle on her, the better she looks!
Some females DO look better with some clothes on!
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