HMS Daring handed over to Navy and prepares to leave the Clyde

HMS Daring, the first of the Daring Class of Type 45 destroyers and one of the world’s most advanced warships, has been officially handed over to the Royal Navy in a ceremony on the Clyde. She successfully completed her final sea trials recently – and indeed was watched online by For Argyll during many of them.

In January she is to leave the Clyde and go south to her new home port of Portsmouth. She will undergo further trials there before going into operational service.

HMS Daring is the first to enter service of the six new Type 45 destroyers ordered from BVT’s yard at Govan in Glasgow, launched there in 2006.

The others in the class, which replaces the ageing Type 42s, are Dauntless, currently in its first sea trials; Diamond; Dragon – whose launch in November was reported by For Argyll; Defender and Duncan – now under construction at BVT’s Scotstoun yard in Govan.

Dauntless, Dianomd and Dragon are expected to enter service between 2009 and 2010.

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