Govan BVT Launch of HMS Dragon, latest Type 45 Daring-class destroyer

Yesterday (Monday 17th November) saw the launch of the fourth of the new and advanced Type 45 destroyers, HMS Dragon. Daring, Dauntless and Diamond have already been launched at the BVT yard at Govan on the Clyde.

Daring, the first and naming ship of the class, has recently, as For Argyll reported, successfully completed her sea trials and Dauntless is currently starting into hers. Daring was seen in Argyll waters during her trials and Dauntless seems to be using the same sea areas. Two more Type 45s – Defender and Duncan – are under construction.

The naval hymn, sung before the launch, is well known to such a audience and the huge yard echoed to massed voices in ‘Eternal Father strong to save, Whose arm doth bind the restless wave…’ A crowd of over 10,000 saw Mrs Susie Boissier, wife of Vice Admiral Paul Boissier, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet and Chief of Staff, launch the ship and give it a push to start its remarkably swift descent down the slip at Govan – to fireworks and huge cheers.

Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, Commander-in-Chief Fleet, said: ‘We are in the middle of the largest procurement programme for the Royal Navy in many years and today’s event underlines the importance of the Royal Navy in the 21st Century. The Type 45 destroyers will be powerful and versatile ships, capable of undertaking a wide range of military tasks. They are based on first-class innovation and engineering which will set new standards in air defence and they will ensure that the Royal Navy remains at the forefront of the world’s navies’.

Ship launches at Govan are traditionally massive communal events and this was no exception. There were at least as many young people as any other population sector – small children, medium-sized children, teenagers. There was a large party of wheelchair-users. There were parents and grandparents with long memories of more frequent launches than is the case these days. There were naval cadets and the usual impressive volume of ‘scrambled egg’ on the front row in the stand. And football commentator, Chick Young, wandered happily around, signing autographs and posing on request for photographs with fellow launch-fans.

The scale of the event is breathtaking. Its not just the launch, it’s the infrastructure. Dragon herself had a huge red Welsh dragon painted on her bow, was fitted with fireworks to mark her moment of slipping – and a great net of (un eco-friendly) balloons to loose when she hit the water. There were all sorts of side interests:

• a huge TV screen so that everyone in the crowd could see the platform party and the actual launch
• vistas into vast hangars where parts of the next two vessels are under construction and will eventually be wheeled into position and welded together
• a paratroop commando display team
• an entertainer dressed as a particularly cuddly red dragon, to keep small children amused
• dragon lollipops and dragon masks for children
• a rolling climbing wall that saw many a macho challenge between young braves
• a van from the Science Museum and one of its ‘mach 1 simulators’
• displays of a variety of models for ships made at the yard
• young naval cadets marching in perfect symmetry
• a couple of pipers, of course, and a brass band

The experience of such absolute and wide-spectrum community engagement with the event reinforces how deep the ship-building roots are in such communities and how disorientating is the decline of the industry on the Clyde.

One suggestion doing the rounds was that the Clyde yards might look at developing a specialism in building mega-yachts for the super-rich. On the evidence, this is one area utterly untouched by recession. Shipyard orders for such craft are more than full. Waiting lists are long. The ships themselves get bigger and bigger, their owners trade up competitively with astonishing frequency and several own more than one yacht.

One of the many advantage of an entrepreneurial drive in this direction by any appropriate existing or revivable Clyde yards is that it would bring in and embed a wide range of new skills – in corporate ship design, in interior design, in joinery, upholstery, luxury fittings sourcing and procurement and in finishing to the flawless standards demanded by such clients. These are transferable skills that are not overly industry-specific. The development seems worth consideration.

Here is a flickr gallery of copyright free photographs taken by people at the event. We will add to this as others are contributed.