Key Points and Summary – More than 3,000 days alongside, HMS Daring has become a case study in how thin the Royal Navy is stretched.
-Open-source tracking flagged the destroyer’s prolonged refit, but the causes run deeper: chronic crew gaps, limited dock capacity, parts shortages and cannibalization.
-The Type 45 Power Improvement Project—cutting into hulls to add diesel generation after warm-water failures—should restore reliability by 2028, yet six ships mean only one or two are often ready.
-As Britain pivots to the Indo-Pacific and deterrence in Europe, the delay dents credibility and capacity.
-Even fixed, numbers and support infrastructure remain the class’s biggest vulnerabilities.
3,000 Days at Port: The Curious Case of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 HMS Daring
HMS Daring, the lead ship of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 class of guided-missile destroyers, has been stuck in port undergoing a substantial refit for over 3,000 days—longer than it took to build the ship.
The myriad problems facing the HMS Daring came to light thanks to some sharp online sleuthing. Thanks to an open-source X, formerly Twitter, account called Britsky that follows British defense issues. The account holder’s posts collate information about the Royal Navy’s ship movements—or lack thereof. Speaking to Portsmouth’s The News, Britsky said that the information reflected the “severe issues” that the Royal Navy is currently facing.
“It’s not just one issue for HMS Daring, it’s its many compounding issues over years and years,” Britsky added. “A shortage of personnel is making it hard to crew ships, there’s a lack of support infrastructure such as docks delaying work, and an insufficient stock of parts meaning ships can’t be kept operational and others are robbed for parts.”
The X user Britsky also told The News that the Type 45 destroyers now in Royal Navy service will be war-worthy, particularly once the class’ Power Improvement Project (PIP), which provided £68 million for replacement engines and weapons, is realized. The work, which saw a hole cut in the hull of another Type 45 ship to install new diesel generators, is still ongoing. “One benefit of HMS Daring being so fresh is it will help keep the Type 45s running in what will no doubt be a delay in building replacements,” Britsky told The News.
“Ultimately with only six ships, we are always handicapped, with realistically only one or two being operational at a time. The decision not to build 12 is a disaster,” Britsky added. “We are in for more bad years as no doubt the Type 26 and Type 31 ships will face increasing delays in delivery, all the while the Type 23s keep bowing out due to simply falling apart and being sustained so far past their design life.”
The Type 45 Nightmare?
The issues facing the HMS Daring cast a shadow over the role of the United Kingdom within NATO’s security architecture, as American President Donald Trump indicates a lack of urgency in finding a quick solution to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
With the United States seemingly intent on implementing a pivot to Asia to counter an increasingly antagonistic China, the role of deterring a revanchist Russia from broader attacks across Europe is increasingly falling to the European nations.
But should the United Kingdom—one of the continent’s preeminent naval powers—find its capabilities hamstrung by defective platforms, what then?
Daring to Continue
The HMS Daring was first launched in 2006 and introduced several digital advancements. In addition to its powerful radar, which could track up to 1,000 targets simultaneously, the ship boasted some of the most comfortable crew amenities available.
The warship could also sail to the Falkland Islands and back to the United Kingdom without needing to refuel. But once the first of the Type 45, the HMS Daring, went on patrol, a crucial design flaw became apparent.
The ship’s gas turbine engine’s thermal management system struggled to maintain constant temperatures in warm waters. Britain’s then-First Sea Lord, Admiral Philip Jones, told the British Parliament in 2016 that operations in warmer areas lead to the engines degrading “catastrophically.”
The Type 45’s Power Improvement Project addresses that shortcoming by, in part, replacing the class’s gas turbines with diesel generators, but will not be completed across the class until 2028, should the modifications proceed according to plan. The fix across the six-ship fleet of guided-missile destroyers won’t be easy, however.
It was built as an integrated, closed system, with a lack of modularity, so it was a complicated exercise to remove things from the hull and amend them,” Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, anaval expert with the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank based in London, said. “Daring was also the first Type 45 to be launched—it is therefore the oldest and most problem-ridden.”
Type 45: What Happens Now?
Even once the gas turbine fix is implemented across the Type 45 class, the fleet will still be far from an ideal operational position, given the very small overall size of the fleet. The Royal Navy had originally ordered 12 of the destroyers.
However, the laser focus of the United States and allied countries on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the broader Middle East region through the 2000s meant that defense from aerial threats took a backseat to threats like armed terrorists and improvised explosive devices.
However, with the Royal Navy renewing emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region, the capability hole as a consequence of the Type 45’s refit is painfully apparent, with clearly negative implications for the Royal Navy’s power projection capabilities.
Even if the currently projected timetable to fix the class is kept, it might be too little, too late.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
More Military
America Is the King of Stealth Fighters
China’s J-20 Mighty Dragon Stealth Fighter Has Just 1 Mission
Swamplaw Yankee
September 10, 2025 at 4:45 pm
3000 plus days = how many years/months?
After 900 days just sign the title of the “problem”over to Ukraine. Let Ukrainians solve it their way as the Big Brass brain trust in the UK move on to newer, greater tech horizons.
Think of the trillions of US dollars of hardware the Yankee Big Brass donated to the Taliban muslims while, yes, while Ukrainian forces stood by, waiting for even one air frame to be donated the Democrat Cabal to Christians, rather than radical muslims, aka Taliban.
Or the huge numbers of US armour donated by the Democrat Cabal to the Taliban: Ukraine could have air lifted so, so much armour out, by themselves. Or, Ukraine could have helped the brave US BIG Brass by blowing each and every piece of tax dollar paid armour very sky high.
Did not the few dozen young civilian high school boys out of Canada not 100% tame the Taliban of Kandahar with WW2 era, genuine museum tanks with no air conditioning, wheeled personal carriers and hand held pop guns? Before the Yankee Big Brass farted trillions over the whole Taliban playground. True or False?.
Nope, Nope, Nope, Let’s pretend in the WEST that the PRC CCP Xi regime will give the UK and the USA another 3000 conflict free days to snore, eat well and be merry!
What Yankee navy guy stated “Damn the Big Brass repair delays, FULL speed ahead”? Must have been stated on the internet !! -30-