The Royal Navy is going to take over the type 45 destroyer, HMS Duncan, on Wednesday, 20 th March.
The manufacturer, Bae Systems, has managed to complete the finish touches on the ship in a record short time between the launch and handover of the ship.
HMS Duncan, the final Type 45 destroyer, was the most complete at launch in October 2010 and will be the quickest from launch to delivery to her base port of Portsmouth, scheduled for March 2013.
You can see HMS Duncan deploy on maiden sea trials in the video below:
During build, the majority of 2010/2011was spent on installing major equipment, such as a gas turbine, medium calibre gun, Sea Viper weapons silo, and connecting it all together with enough electrical cable to circle the M25 almost 3 times!
Much of the commissioning of the equipment started in 2011, including the power and propulsion system, which can produce enough electricity to power a small city.
The Type 45 Destroyers are going to provide the backbone of the UK’s naval air defence for the next 30 years and beyond. The ships are capable of carrying out a wide range of operations, including anti-piracy and anti-smuggling activities, disaster relief work and surveillance operations, as well as high intensity war fighting.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, March 12, 2013; Image: Royal Navy