Article Posted on : - Mar 25, 2013

The fifth Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender (above), has been commissioned into the Royal Navy; the final ship, HMS Duncan, will shortly begin her initial sea trials. Photo: UK MoD.

LONDON (BNS): The Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender has been recently commissioned into the Royal Navy.

HMS Defender is the fifth Type 45 to be commissioned into the Royal Navy. The ships, which were built by BAE Systems in Portsmouth and in Scotland, are the most capable destroyers the UK has ever had.

HMS Defender was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Base , which will be home to all 6 of the fleet's Daring Class ships.

"The commissioning of HMS Defender marks the point at which building and testing the ship finishes and front line service in the fleet begins," HMS Defender's Commanding Officer, Commander Phillip Nash was quoted as saying in the UK Ministry of Defence's news release.

Each Type 45 is longer than 16 double-decker buses laid end-to-end and, built from 2,800 tonnes of steel, weighs more than the Blackpool Tower. With fuel tanks half the size of an Olympic swimming pool, the ships are capable of generating enough electricity to power a town of 80,000 people.

HMS Daring, Dauntless and Diamond have already completed operational tours in the Mediterranean, the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Type 45s feature the Sea Viper air defence missile system which can tackle multiple targets at once and missiles accelerate to twice the speed of Concord in under 10 seconds. The destroyers will be able to deploy with the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth when she comes into service.