Diamond in the rough (Opinion)

12th November 2021 - 12:45 GMT | by Harry Lye in London

RSS

Pictured amid the fog is the Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond docked at HMNB Portsmouth loading bay. (Photo: UK MoD)

The speed, manoeuvrability and endurance of destroyers are an asset to any deploying force. However, technical issues can put these formidable ships out of action, making them little more than expensive flotsam.

This year, the misfortunes of the RN Daring-class Type 45 destroyer have been a sage reminder of the importance of fleet numbers to availability and the limits of the UK’s destroyer fleet.

In July, HMS Diamond was forced to detach from the UK’s Carrier Strike Group 2021 (CSG 21) due to ‘technical’ issues. The destroyer stayed alongside in Sicily while the rest of the strike group transited the Suez Canal.

Diamond suffered a failure of one of her gas turbines that had to be replaced. The issue added to a long history of the class’s mechanical problems and raised …