![]() HMAS Vampire on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Daring class |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Battle class |
Succeeded by |
|
Built | 1949–1959 |
In commission | 1952–2007 |
Planned |
|
Completed |
|
Cancelled |
|
Lost | 1, Voyager |
Preserved | 1, Vampire |
General characteristics For RN vessels | |
Type | Destroyer |
Displacement | Standard: 2,830 tons, Full load: 3,820 tons |
Length | 390 ft (120 m) |
Beam | 43 ft (13 m) |
Draught | 12.75 ft (3.89 m) |
Propulsion | 2 Foster Wheeler boilers 650 psi (4.5 MPa), 850 °F (454 °C), Parsons steam turbines (English Electric in RAN ships), 2 shafts, 54,000 shp (40 MW) |
Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Range | 4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement | 297 |
Sensors and processing systems | |
Armament |
|
The Daring class was a class of eleven destroyers built for the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Constructed after World War II, and entering service during the 1950s, eight ships were constructed for the RN, and three ships for the RAN. Two of the RN destroyers were subsequently sold to and served in the Peruvian Navy (MGP). A further eight ships were planned for the RN but were cancelled before construction commenced, while a fourth RAN vessel was begun but was cancelled before launch and broken up on the slipway.
The Daring-class ships were both the largest and most heavily armed ships serving in Commonwealth navies to be classified as destroyers. They were intended to fill some of the duties of cruisers, which post WW2 were considered both expensive and obsolete by naval planners, and were briefly officially considered a hybrid type (Darings) before being rated as destroyers. They were also the last destroyers of the RN and RAN to possess guns as their main armament (instead of guided missiles), which saw use during the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War.
The Daring-class destroyers were in service in the RN and RAN from the 1950s to the 1980s. Following decommissioning, two RN Darings were sold to Peru, which operated one ship until 1993 and the other until 2007. One ship of the class is preserved: HMAS Vampire as a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The 'Darings' were the largest destroyers then built (1949) for the RN, [1] having a displacement of 3,820 tons, a length of 390 feet (120 m), a beam of 43 feet (13 m), and a draught of 12.75 feet (3.89 m). [2]
The Darings were the last conventional gun destroyers of the RN, and were armed with the QF 4.5 inch /45 (113 mm) Mark V gun in three double mounts UD Mk.VI (later renamed simply Mark N6). The main armament was controlled by a director Mark VI fitted with Radar Type 275 on the bridge and a director CRBF (close range blind fire) aft with Radar Type 262 providing local control for 'X' turret on aft arcs. Remote Power Control (RPC) was provided for the main armament. Darings were capable of a rate of fire of 16 rounds per minute per gun, or about 100 rounds per minute overall. [3]
They were designed to ship three twin 40 mm /60 Bofors mounts STAAG Mark II, but the midships one was later replaced by the lighter and more reliable twin Mount Mark V. This meant that the 'Darings' could engage two targets at long range and two at close range under fully automatic radar directed-control, an enormous improvement over their predecessors. Two of the Australian Darings were instead fitted with two twin and two single Bofors mounts. Type 293 was carried on the foremast for target indication.
Like the earlier Weapon class, the Darings had their machinery arranged on the 'unit' principle, where boiler rooms and engine rooms alternated to increase survivability. The boilers utilised pressures and temperatures (650 psi (45 bar), 850 °F (454 °C)) hitherto unheard of in the conservative Royal Navy, allowing great improvements in efficiency to be made without increasing weight. [4] [5] The wide spacing of the boilers resulted in widely spaced funnels. The forward funnel was trunked up through the lattice foremast (referred to as a mack) with the after funnel a stump amidships. Neither was provided with a casing, resulting in a curious, rather unappealing appearance, although the utility of the funnels was considered by some to enhance the overall appearance. Attempts were made to improve the appearance by adding a streamline case to the funnel, but this was later removed. Of note was a new design of bridge, breaking with a lineage going back to the H-class destroyer of 1936. 3/8-inch armour plating was added to the turrets, the bridge and the fire control cable runs.
The Royal Navy ships were built in two groups, one with the traditional DC electrical system (Daring, Dainty, Defender and Delight) and the remaining ships (Decoy, Diamond, Diana and Duchess), with a modern AC system. They were known as the 2nd and 5th Destroyer Squadrons, respectively.
Two of the ships, Danae and Delight, were originally part of the Battle class, though only Delight (originallyYpres, then Disdain, before finally being renamed Delight) was commissioned.
They were to have been of all-welded construction, but Daring, Decoy, and Diana were built with a composite of welding and riveting.
The Royal Australian Navy initially ordered four Daring-class destroyers, which were to be named after the ships of the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" of World War II. The ships were modified during construction: most changes were made to improve habitability, including the installation of air-conditioning. [6] The Darings were also the first all-welded ships to be constructed in Australia. [7]
The first Australian Daring was laid down in 1949. [7] By 1950, it was already apparent that the Australian Darings would not be completed on time, as the Australian dockyards were experiencing difficulty in keeping up with the construction schedule. [6] To compensate for this, the RAN unsuccessfully attempted to purchase two of the 'Darings' under construction in the United Kingdom, and considered acquiring ships from the United States Navy despite the logistical difficulties in supplying and maintaining American vessels in a predominately British-designed fleet. [6] Only three ships were completed; Voyager, Vendetta, and Vampire were commissioned between 1957 and 1959. [7] By the time they were commissioned, the cost of each ship had increased from A£2.6 million to A£7 million. [7]
Eight further Daring-class destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy were cancelled on 27 December 1945: Danae, Decoy, Delight, Demon, Dervish, Desire, Desperate and Diana. Consequently, the ships of this class originally ordered as Disdain, Dogstar, Dragon and Druid were renamed as Delight, Defender, Decoy and Diana to perpetuate the names of the original D-class flotilla of the 1930s.
The fourth Australian Daring, to be named Waterhen, was laid down in 1952 but cancelled in 1954 and scrapped on the slipway. [8] This was one of several cost-cutting measures to maintain a naval aviation force based around two aircraft carriers. [9]
Pennant [10] | Name | (a) Hull builder [11] | Ordered [11] | Laid down [11] | Launched [11] | Completed or accepted into service [11] | Commissioned [12] | Estimated building cost [13] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Royal Navy | ||||||||
I05, later D119 | Delight (ex-Disdain, ex-Ypres) | Fairfield | 5 June 1943 | 5 September 1946 | 21 December 1950 | 9 October 1953 | 9 October 1953 | |
I06 | Danae (ex-Vimiera) | Cammell Laird | 5 June 1943 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | – |
I15, later D05 | Daring | Swan Hunter | 24 January 1945 | 29 September 1945 | 10 August 1949 | 8 March 1952 | 8 March 1952 | |
I35 | Demon | Swan Hunter | 24 January 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | – |
I52, later D108 | Dainty | JS White | 24 January 1945 | 17 December 1945 | 16 August 1950 | 26 February 1953 | 26 February 1953[ citation needed ] | |
I73 | Dervish | JS White | 24 January 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | |
I40 | Decoy | Vickers, Newcastle upon Tyne | 24 January 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | |
I45 | Delight | Vickers, Newcastle upon Tyne | 24 January 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | |
I81, later D35 | Diamond | John Brown | 24 January 1945 | 15 March 1949 | 14 June 1950 | 21 February 1952 | 21 February 1952 | |
I87 | Desperate | John Brown | 24 January 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 27 December 1945 | – | |
I19 | Desire | Hawthorn Leslie | 16 February 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | |
I77 | Diana | Hawthorn Leslie | 16 February 1945 | – | – | Cancelled 13 December 1945 | – | |
I47, later D114 | Defender (ex-Dogstar) | Stephen | 16 February 1945 | 22 March 1949 | 27 July 1950 | 5 December 1952 | 5 December 1952 | |
I56, later D106 | Decoy (ex-Dragon) | Yarrow | 16 February 1945 | 23 September 1946 | 29 March 1949 | 28 April 1953 | 28 April 1953 | |
I26, later D126 | Diana (ex-Druid) | Yarrow | 16 February 1945 | 3 April 1947 | 8 May 1952 | 29 March 1954 | 29 March 1954 | |
I94, later D154 | Duchess | Thornycroft | 29 March 1945 | 8 July 1948 | 9 April 1951 | 23 October 1952 | 23 October 1952 | |
Royal Australian Navy | ||||||||
D11 | Vampire | Cockatoo Island | 1 July 1952 | 27 October 1956 | 23 June 1959 | 23 June 1959 | ||
D08 | Vendetta | Williamstown Dock Yard [14] | 4 July 1949 | 3 May 1954 | 26 November 1958 | 26 November 1958 | ||
D04 | Voyager | Cockatoo Island | 10 October 1949 | 1 May 1952 | 12 February 1957 | 12 February 1957 | ||
– | Waterhen | Williamstown Dock Yard | December 1952 | – | Cancelled 1954 | – | – | |
In 1958, the 'DC' group had their after torpedo tubes removed and replaced with a deck house providing additional accommodation facilities. This modification was made in the 'AC' ships in 1959–1960. Also at the same time, the 'ACs' had their STAAG mounts replaced with single mount Mark 7 Bofors and had the director Mark VI replaced by the new director MRS-3 (medium range system) incorporating the Radar Type 903 for fire control. The Seacat missile launcher was fitted briefly to Decoy for acceptance trials in 1961, [15] but it was later removed and never fitted to the rest of the 'Darings' as had been envisaged.[ citation needed ]
Between 1962 and 1964, the 'DC' group had their STAAG mounts replaced by the Mark V also, with the final set of torpedo tubes being removed at the same time. This group also had the director MRS-3 replace the Mark VI.
The class saw service with the RN from the early 1950s to the early 1970s, and with the RAN from the late 1950s to the late 1970s, with Vampire in service as a training ship until 1986. Several of the ships were also involved in Cold War conflicts. Delight, Duchess, Vampire and Vendetta were involved in the Indonesian Confrontation. Vendetta also operated during the Vietnam War, the only Australian-built warship to fight in the conflict. [16]
Only one ship of the class was lost. On the night of 10 February 1964, HMAS Voyager crossed the bows of the aircraft carrier Melbourne and was rammed and sunk with the loss of 81 RAN personnel and one civilian contractor. [17] Duchess was loaned to the RAN as a replacement for four years while replacements (two modified River-class destroyer escorts) were constructed, but was then sold to the RAN. [18]
The British 'Darings' received little modernisation, and were all decommissioned as obsolete and requiring too large crews compared with frigates in 1968–1970. Two of these, Diana and Decoy, were sold to the Peruvian Navy and renamed BAP Palacios and BAP Ferré respectively. These two ships were modernised, with Palacios serving until 1993, and Ferré decommissioning in 2007.
The RAN ships were modernised in the early 1970s at a cost of A$20 million, [19] although modifications to Duchess were fewer than to her sister ships. Duchess and Vendetta remained in commission until the late 1970s, and Vampire was retained until 1986 as a training ship. The Australian 'Darings' were replaced with the Perth-class destroyers, an American-built derivative of the Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer. [20] The training role of the 'Darings' was first supplemented, then replaced, by HMAS Jervis Bay. [19] After decommissioning, Vampire became a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, the only ship of the class to be preserved.
An unidentified Daring-class destroyer played the fictional "HMS Sherwood" in the 1957 A. E. Matthews film comedy Carry On Admiral . There are a number of profile shots of the ship in Portsmouth dockyard, as well as detailed views above and below decks, and an interesting sequence showing the accidental firing of a torpedo at the admiral's barge.
HMAS Duchess was a Daring-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy as HMS Duchess from 1952 to 1964, and in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1964 to 1980. She was laid down by John I. Thornycroft and Company, and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1952.
HMAS Napier (G97/D13) was an N-class destroyer serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. Built during 1939 and 1940, the destroyer was commissioned into the RAN, although she was ordered and owned by the British government. During 1941, Napier operated in the Mediterranean, before being transferred to the British Eastern Fleet at the start of 1942, then to south Atlantic operations in early 1944. In 1945, Napier was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet, and spent the rest of World War II in the fight against Japan. After the war's end, the destroyer was decommissioned and returned to the British. She was sold off in 1955, and broken up in 1956.
Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) have been named HMAS Vampire.
Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) have been named HMAS Vendetta.
The Type 21 frigate, or Amazon-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s.
The Battle class were a class of destroyers of the British Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN), named after naval or other battles fought by British or English forces. Built in three groups, the first group were ordered under the 1942 naval estimates. A modified second and third group, together with two ships of an extended design were planned for the 1943 and 1944 estimates. Most of these ships were cancelled when it became apparent that the war was being won and the ships would not be required, although two ships of the third group, ordered for the RAN, were not cancelled and were subsequently completed in Australia.
Seacat was a British short-range surface-to-air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system, and was designed so that the Bofors guns could be replaced with minimum modification to the recipient vessel and (originally) using existing fire-control systems. A mobile land-based version of the system was known as Tigercat.
The C and D class was a group of 14 destroyers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s. As in previous years, it was originally intended to order a complete flotilla comprising eight destroyers—plus a flotilla leader as the ninth unit—in each year. However, only four ships—plus a leader—were ordered under the 1929–1930 Programme as the C class. The other four ships planned for the C class were never ordered as an economy measure and disarmament gesture by the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald. A complete flotilla—the 'D' class—was ordered under the 1930–1931 Programme.
The Havock class was a class of torpedo boat destroyer (TBD) of the British Royal Navy. The two ships, Havock and Hornet, built in London in 1893 by Yarrow & Company, were the first TBDs to be completed for the Royal Navy, although the equivalent pair from J.I. Thornycroft, Daring and Decoy, were ordered five days earlier.
HMAS Vampire was the third of three Australian-built Daring-class destroyers serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of the first all-welded ships built in Australia, she was constructed at Cockatoo Island Dockyard between 1952 and 1959, and was commissioned into the RAN a day after completion.
HMAS Vampire was a V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was lent to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II. Reactivated for war service, the destroyer served in the Mediterranean as part of the Scrap Iron Flotilla, and was escorting the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse during their loss to Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea in December 1941. Vampire was sunk on 9 April 1942 by Japanese aircraft while sailing with the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes from Trincomalee.
The Australian White Ensign is a naval ensign used by ships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1967 onwards. From the formation of the RAN until 1967, Australian warships used the British White Ensign as their ensign. However, this led to situations where Australian vessels were mistaken for British ships, and when Australia became involved in the Vietnam War, the RAN was effectively fighting under the flag of another, uninvolved nation. Proposals were made in 1965 for a unique Australian ensign, which was approved in 1966, and entered use in 1967.
BAPFerré(DM-74) was a Daring-class destroyer in service with the Peruvian Navy from 1973 to 2007. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders and completed for the Royal Navy in 1953 as HMS Decoy (D106).
The Perth-class destroyers were three modified Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered from Defoe Shipbuilding Company during 1962 and 1963, HMA Ships Perth, Hobart, and Brisbane were the first guided missiled-armed warships, and the first naval ships of United States design, to enter service with the RAN. All three ships operated during the Vietnam War, while Brisbane also participated in the Gulf War. The class was decommissioned between 1999 and 2001, with all three vessels later sunk as dive wrecks.
HMAS Voyager was a Daring-class destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), that was lost in a collision in 1964.
HMAS Vendetta was one of three Daring-class destroyers built for and operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The destroyer was built by Williamstown Naval Dockyard and entered service in 1958. During her early career, Vendetta was deployed to the Far East Strategic Reserve on multiple occasions. In 1965 and 1966, the destroyer undertook deterrence patrols during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. Along with several runs escorting the troop transport HMAS Sydney to South Vietnam, from late 1969 to early 1970 Vendetta was assigned to combat operations and became the only Australian-built warship to serve in a shore bombardment role during the Vietnam War.
HMAS Vendetta (D69/I69) was a V-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of 25 V class ships ordered for the Royal Navy during World War I, Vendetta entered service in 1917.
The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes. Two more ships were ordered in 1964, following the Melbourne-Voyager collision; these were based on the Type 12I frigate.
The Rothesay class, or Type 12M frigates were a class of frigates serving with the Royal Navy, South African Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Notes
Bibliography