HMS Duncan is the sixth ship of the Type 45

Type 45 destroyer

The United Kingdom's Type 45 destroyer is an air defence destroyer programme of the Royal Navy which will replace its Type 42 destroyers. The first ship in the class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009. The ships are now built by BAE Systems Surface Ships...

 or 'D' class of air defence

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...

 destroyer planned to be built for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Duncan is named after Adam Duncan, Viscount Duncan of Camperdown (1 July 1731 – 4 August 1804), who defeated the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown

Battle of Camperdown

The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797 between a Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch Navy fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter...

 on 11 October 1797.

Construction

Duncans construction began at the BAE Systems Naval Ships

BAE Systems Naval Ships

BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions was a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems, based at two shipyards on the River Clyde in Glasgow and BAE Systems' Filton offices...

 (now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships) yards at Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

 and Scotstoun

Scotstoun

Scotstoun is a historic district of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Yoker and Knightswood to the west, Victoria Park, Broomhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde to the south...

 on the River Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

 in 2006. She was launched on 11 October 2010 (exactly 213 years after the Battle of Camperdown), and is expected to enter service in 2014.

Design

The Type 45 is considered the most advanced air-defence warship in the world. The ship's capabilities centre on the SAMPSON

SAMPSON

The SAMPSON is a multi-function AESA radar produced by BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies. The SAMPSON multi function radar system is described by BAE Systems as being a world beating air defence system...

 Multi Function Radar, which can detect targets out to a distance of 400 kilometres (216 nmi), and the PAAMS

PAAMS

The Principal Anti Air Missile System is a joint French/Italian/British programme for a naval anti-aircraft weapon. The prime contractor is EUROPAAMS, a joint venture between Eurosam and MBDA subsidiary UKAMS . MBDA also owns 66% of Eurosam, in effect giving it a 77% share of the project...

 missile system.

The Type 45 has frequently been cited by the British press as being the first class of warship to include e-mail and entertainment systems (including iPod

IPod

iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

charging points) within the messdecks. These reports relate to 230-volt domestic supplies and access to external e-mail, both of which have been common features in most RN vessels for several years.

External links