Britain's VT Group Awarded Type 45 Ship Section Contract

Defense Daily, July 11, 2002

Britain's VT Group, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft, last week said it has been awarded a contract worth about $300 million from Britain's BAE SYSTEMS to design and build the forward sections for the first six Type Daringclass destroyers.

VT's Portsmouth, England, facility is responsible for building and outfitting the forward sections of the ships, as well as the masts and funnels, under the revised acquisition strategy for the Type 45 destroyers unveiled in July 2001. Meanwhile, BAE's Barrow-in-Furness, England shipyard is building the stern sections, including the steering gears and accommodations, as well as the center sections, including the operations rooms and bridges.

The Type 45 Daring-class destroyers are intended to replace the Royal Navy's aging Type 42 Sheffield-class destroyers. The ships are to have a maximum weight of about 7,000 tons, a length of 494 feet and a maximum width of 65 feet, making them the largest surface warfare ships built by Britain since World War II. The ships will have a top speed of 29 knots and are to be powered by a pair of WR-21 gas turbines built by a team of Britain's Rolls-Royce, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and France's DCN shipyard.

The first Type 45 destroyer, HMS Daring, is to be manufactured by BAE at its Scotstoun shipyard in Clyde, Scotland, with the following 11 ships of the class built at Barrow-in-Furness yard.

In February, Britain's Ministry of Defence ordered the final three ships of the initial six-ship batch (Defense Daily, Feb. 20).