Эсминцы типа 45: История и особенности британского флота

2009 Royal Navy destroyer class

The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or Daring class, is a class of six guided missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti aircraft and anti missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS (Sea Viper) air defence system using the SAMPSON Active electronically scanned array (AESA) and the S1850M long range radars. The first three destroyers were assembled by BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions from partially prefabricated "blocks" built at different shipyards; the remaining three were built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. The first ship in the Daring class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009. The Type 45 destroyers were built to replace the Type 42 (Sheffield class) destroyers that had served during the Falklands War, with the last Type 42 being decommissioned in 2013. The National Audit Office reported that, during an "intensive attack", a single Type 45 could simultaneously track, engage and destroy more targets than five Type 42 destroyers operating together. After the launch of Daring on 1 February 2006, Admiral Sir Alan West, then First Sea Lord, stated that it would be the Royal Navy's most capable destroyer ever, as well as the world's best air defence ship. The reduction in the number to be procured from twelve, then to (up to) eight, finally with only six confirmed (in 2008) was controversial. In 2016, it was revealed that due to a design flaw on the Northrop Grumman intercooler attached to the Rolls Royce WR 21 gas turbines, power availability was diminished considerably when functioning in the warm climate of the Persian Gulf, and it quickly became apparent that the class was not operating as originally envisioned. Under current plans, the Type 45 destroyer will be replaced by the Type 83 destroyer, the first of which is expected to enter service in the late 2030s.

The UK had sought to procure a new class of air defence guided missile destroyers in collaboration with seven other NATO nations under the NFR 90 project; the project collapsed due to varying requirements of the different countries involved. The UK then joined France and Italy in the programme; however, differing national requirements, workshare arguments and delays led to the UK withdrawing on 26 April 1999 and starting its own national project. On 23 November 1999, Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), the defence arm of General Electric and in the process of merger with British Aerospace (BAe) since January, was confirmed as the prime contractor for the Type 45 project. Seven days later, MES and BAe completed the merger forming BAE Systems (BAE), making the latter the prime contractor. The Type 45 project has been criticised for rising costs and delays, with the six ships costing £6.46 billion, an increase of £1.5 billion (29%) on the original budget. rather than 2007 as initially planned. In 2007, the Defence Select Committee expressed disappointment that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and BAE had failed to control rising costs.

The Type 45 destroyers take advantage of Horizon development work and use the Sea Viper air defence system and the SAMPSON radar. The ships were built by BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships, which subsequently became BVT Surface Fleet with the merger of the surface shipbuilding arms of BAE Systems and VT Group. These two companies had previously built the ships in collaboration. BAE's two Glasgow shipyards and single Portsmouth shipyard were responsible for different "blocks". BAE's Govan yard built Block A (stern to the edge of the helicopter hangar). The Scotstoun yard built Blocks B/C (a 2600 tonne section that contains the Rolls Royce WR 21 gas turbines, starting with the helicopter hangar to the bridge section) and Block D (the bridge section itself). BAE's Portsmouth shipyard was responsible for Blocks E/F (bridge to the bow), funnels, and masts. For ships two to six, blocks A–D were assembled in the Ships Block and Outfit Hall of the Govan shipyard and taken fully outfitted to the Scotstoun berth. The masts and funnels were also fitted before launch. For the first of class, Block A was assembled at Govan and moved to Scotstoun, where it was mated to Block B/C, which was already fitted with the WR 21 turbines and machinery. Block D, also assembled at Scotstoun, was fitted to these three blocks. The bow sections (E/F) were mated at HMNB Portsmouth and taken by barge to Scotstoun. These were the final blocks to be attached. At this point, the hull was launched into the Clyde and towed to the Scotstoun Dry Dock, where the masts and funnels were fitted (the masts were partially outfitted with equipment. For example, the mast for the S1850M radar is sent from Portsmouth to Thales Nederland to be fitted with radar equipment). Once this was complete, the remaining equipment was fitted: radar arrays, bow mounted sonar, propellers, missile equipment, and the 4.5 inch gun. This modular construction arrangement was agreed upon in February 2002. However, when the original contract for three ships was signed in July 2000, BAE Systems Marine was to build the first and third ships, and VT Group was to build the second. By the end of 2010, all six Type 45 destroyers had been launched, with the first two in commission and the remainder fitting out. By 2012, all destroyers were structurally complete and the production lines, had been closed. , the last of the Type 45 destroyers, was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base on 26 September 2013 and entered service in 2014 after trials and training. The Daring class are the largest escorts ever built for the Royal Navy in terms of displacement. In 2009, delivery of the ships' Aster missiles was delayed due to a manufacturing fault with a single batch of missiles identified during testing.

The Type 45 destroyers are in length, with a beam of , a draught of and a displacement of approximately This makes them significantly larger than the Type 42 they replaced (displacement ). The Type 45 destroyers are the first British warships built to meet the Lloyd's Register's Naval Ship Rules for hull structure requiring design approval by Lloyd's Register for the principal structural arrangements of the vessel. BAE Systems is the Design Authority for the Type 45, a role traditionally held by the Ministry of Defence. The design of the Type 45 brings new levels of radar signature reduction to the Royal Navy. Deck equipment and life rafts are concealed behind the ship's superstructure panels, producing a "clean" superstructure. The mast is also sparingly equipped externally. Speculation by the press suggests that this design gives the ship the radar cross section of a small fishing boat. The Daring class is notable for being the first Royal Navy vessels to include gender neutral living spaces to accommodate male and female crew members; communal shower and heads facilities have given way to individual cubicles, and six person berths for junior ratings are far more flexible in accommodating a mixture of male and female sailors. Men and women will continue to sleep in separate spaces, in common with most other navies.

The Type 45 is fitted with an advanced and innovative integrated electric propulsion system. Integrated electric propulsion seeks to supply all propulsion and the ship's electrical load using alternating current at a high quality of voltage and frequency. This is achieved by computerised control, high quality transformation, and electrical filtering. Two Rolls Royce WR 21 gas turbines drive GE alternators, and along with two Wärtsilä 12V200 diesel generators, provide electrical power at 4,160 volts to a GE high voltage system. The high voltage supply is then used to power two GE Power Conversion advanced induction motors with outputs of each. Ship's services, including hotel load and weapons system power supplies, are supplied via transformers from the high voltage supply at 440 V and 115 V. The benefits of integrated electric propulsion are cited as:

Placing the electric motors closer to the propeller, shortening the shaft line and removing the need for a gearbox or controllable pitch propellers, and reducing exposure to action damage. Flexibility in running propulsion and ship services from any combination of prime movers, reducing engine running hours and emissions. The key to the efficient use of a single prime mover is the choice of a gas turbine that provides efficiency over a large load range; the WR 21 gas turbine incorporates compressor intercooling and exhaust heat recovery, making it significantly more efficient than previous marine gas turbines, especially at low and medium load. The combination of greater efficiency and high fuel capacity gives an endurance of at .

In January 2016, the Ministry of Defence acknowledged that the propulsion system was (prior to upgrade) unreliable, with the BBC reporting that "total electric failures are common". The Rolls Royce WR 21 gas turbine itself is of a sound design, however, the Northrop Grumman intercooler unit "has a major design flaw and causes the WR 21s to fail occasionally. When this happens, the electrical load on the diesel generators can become too great, and they 'trip out', leaving the ship with no source of power or propulsion. The First Sea Lord, Admiral Philip Jones, clarified that the "WR 21 gas turbines were designed in extreme hot weather conditions to what we call 'gracefully degrade' in their performance, until you get to the point where it goes beyond the temperature at which they would operate we found that the resilience of the diesel generators and the WR 21 in the ship at the moment was not degrading gracefully; it was degrading catastrophically, so that is what we have had to address". While the Ministry of Defence does not release detailed information related to the number of problems experienced by the class, including total engine failure, several such occasions have been reported in the media. Daring broke down in November 2010 and April 2012, Dauntless in February 2014 and Duncan in November 2016. In November 2017, The Register reported that a Type 45 destroyer had been recalled to Britain with propeller problems, leaving the Royal Navy's traditional "east of Suez" deployment without proper warship cover. It was stated that "HMS Diamond is on her way back to the UK after a propeller problem proved too much for the ship's crew to repair on their own." On 21 March 2018, the MoD announced the award of the £160 million "Power Improvement Project" (PIP) contract to BAE Systems, BMT Defence Services, and Cammell Laird to remove the two current diesel generators and install three larger diesel generators at the latter's shipyard in Birkenhead. Replacement or rectification of the WR 21s was not a practical option. Dauntless arrived at Cammell Laird on 6 May 2020 to become the first ship to start the PIP upgrade. Completion of the upgrade of all six ships is planned by the mid 2020s.

The Type 45 destroyers are primarily designed for anti air warfare, able to defend against targets such as fighter aircraft, drones, and highly maneuverable sea skimming anti ship missiles travelling at supersonic speeds. The Royal Navy describes the destroyers' mission as "to shield the Fleet from air attack". The US Naval War College has suggested that the SAMPSON radar is capable of tracking 1,000 objects the size of a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound (Mach 3), emphasising the system's capabilities against high performance stealth targets. The Aster missile is autonomously guided and equipped with an active RF seeker enabling it to cope with "saturated attacks" thanks to a "multiple engagement capability" and a "high rate of fire". In May 2014, Jane's Information Group reported that the United Kingdom is committing more funds to explore the capabilities of the SAMPSON multi function radar and the Type 45 destroyer in a ballistic missile defence role. This followed a successful live firing event at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll in the Western Pacific Ocean, where Daring demonstrated the ability to "[detect] at the earliest opportunity, with tracks maintained through to intercept" two medium range ballistic missile surrogate targets. BAE Systems reportedly told Jane's that the SAMPSON multi function radar "exceeded expectations in all respects". An "Experiment Concurrency and Cueing (TECC)" event for the Type 45 was planned for late 2015. Due to the greater capabilities of the Type 45 over predecessors, the high price per ship, and the public attention they have attracted, defence analysts and correspondents have referred to them as the "most advanced" or "most powerful" air defence destroyers in the world. BAE Systems claim that "the Type 45 Destroyer is recognised as the most advanced anti air warfare vessel in the world." Nick Brown, the editor in chief of Jane's International Defence Review, was quoted by The Huffington Post saying, "It's certainly one of the most advanced air defence ships in the world The US Aegis system is similar, but Sea Viper is more advanced."

1 × BAE Systems 4.5 inch Mark 8 Mod 1 naval gun. , the Mk 8 Mod 1 is scheduled to remain in service until the 2030s, with a Mod 2 upgrade along the way to address obsolescence. 2 × 30 mm Small Calibre Guns on single DS 30B mounts. 2 × Phalanx 20 mm calibre close in weapon systems (CIWS). 2 × 7.62 mm M134 Miniguns. (replaced by 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) Browning heavy machine guns as of 2023)
Up to 6 × 7.62 mm L7A2 General Purpose Machine Guns. It has hangar space for either one Merlin HM1 or two Westland Lynx helicopters. The Wildcat relies on the ship's sensors in attacking submarine targets since, in RN service as of 2019, it lacks dipping sonar or sonobuoys of its own.

Four of the six Type 45 destroyers received Harpoon launchers recycled from the last four decommissioned Type 22 frigates. However, Harpoon SSMs are to be withdrawn from the Type 45s by 2023. As of 2022, it was reported that Harpoon SSMs were no longer deployed on the destroyer. However, HMS Duncan was reportedly fit with Harpoon as of March 2023. In November 2022, it was announced that the Royal Navy will receive the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) to replace Harpoon, which will be fitted to Type 45 destroyers. The Type 45 has a bow mounted medium frequency Ultra/EDO MFS 7000 sonar but has no shipboard anti submarine weapons. The class relies on its helicopter(s) for ASW. , there were no plans to fit anti submarine torpedo tubes. The 4.5 inch Mark 8 Mod 1 naval gun can be used against ships and for naval gunfire support (NGS) against land targets.

The Seagnat decoy system allows for the seduction and distraction of radar guided weapons through active and passive means. An infrared countermeasure device is planned for future retrofits. Airborne Systems's Naval Decoy IDS300 floating naval decoy system (corner reflectors). Surface Ship Torpedo Defence System (SSTD) active torpedo decoy system.

Fully Integrated Communications System (FICS45): a combined external and internal communications system supplied by Thales and Selex ES Ltd. In 2012, the UAT Mod 2.0 digital Radar Electronic Surveillance system was fitted to Daring and Diamond as part of a £40m contract with Thales UK that will see UAT Mod 2.1 fitted to the other Type 45s.

In support of protecting merchant ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, HMS Diamond shot down a suspected attack drone targeting commercial shipping with a single Sea Viper (Aster) missile on the night of 15 December 2023. According to Navy Lookout, the Sea Viper missile that was used costs around £1–2 million and the drone it shot down may have only cost 20,000 US dollars. In the same theatre of war, the United States Navy ship, USS Carney, has shot down 14 drones, most likely, using her main gun which is a much cheaper method. The Royal Navy is unable to use the main gun on their ships to do this, the 4.5 inch Mark 8, because software support for anti aircraft use has been withdrawn (RN ships will not have anti aircraft gun capability until the Type 26 frigates, or Type 31 frigates, are in service). The in service Type 23 frigates have the Sea Ceptor missile system which can be used to shoot down drones and is cheaper than the Sea Viper (Aster) missile system. It will be several years until the Type 45 destroyers are fitted with the Sea Ceptor upgrade. On 10 January 2024, it was reported that Diamond had shot down seven drones in the Red Sea using a combination of her missiles and guns on 9 January as part of a force that brought down "21 drones and missiles" that night. According to Alex Walters of Forces. net, the 4.5 inch Mark 8 can be used as an air defence weapon. On Wednesday 24 April 2024, HMS Diamond used a single Sea Viper (Aster) missile to shoot down a ballistic missile which had been launched from Houthi controlled areas of Yemen and which according to American sources was likely targeting a US container ship. It was the first time since the Gulf War of 1991 that the Royal Navy had intercepted any kind of missile in combat, when HMS Gloucester shot down an Iraqi Silkworm cruise missile. It is also the first time that the Royal Navy's Sea Viper system has shot down a ballistic missile in combat.