HMS Daring (D32)
HMS Daring is the lead ship of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy, and the seventh ship to hold that name. She was launched in 2006 on the Clyde and conducted contractor's sea trials during 2007 and 2008. She was handed over to the Royal Navy in December 2008, entered her base port of Portsmouth for the first time in January 2009 and was formally commissioned on 23 July 2009. As the lead ship of the first destroyer class built for the Royal Navy since the Type 42 in the 1970s, she has attracted significant media and public attention. Her name, crest and motto are a reference to the Roman youth Gaius Mucius Scaevola, famed for his bravery.
Operational history
Daring's construction began at the BAE Systems Naval Ships yard (now BAE Systems Surface Ships) at Scotstoun on the River Clyde in March 2003. The ship was launched at 14.21 GMT on 1 February 2006. HRH The Countess of Wessex was the ship's sponsor at her launch. On 16 November 2006, the Countess of Wessex brought Daring to life on her first official visit. On 17 November 2006, the countess switched on the ship's diesel generators, part of the 'powering up' ceremony.
HMS Daring
Seven vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Daring.
HMS Daring (1874)
HMS Daring was a 4-gun Fantome-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1874 and sold for breaking in 1889 after serving most of her career in the Pacific.
Construction
Daring was constructed of an iron frame sheathed with teak and copper (hence 'composite'), and powered by a trunk engine provided by John Penn & Sons. She was fitted with a full barque rig of sails.
History
Daring served on the Pacific and China Stations, working some of the time for the Canadian Government, including conducting hydrography, for which the Canadian Government bore half the cost. In Spring 1861 she carried Joseph Howe (the Provincial Secretary at the time) to the mouth of the Tangier River in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. There he arranged to have law and order restored by carving the gold diggings into appropriately sized lots, and offering them for rental for $40. In 1877 Commander John Hammer made a sketch survey of the Skeena River entrance from Daring.
Fate
She was sold to a Mr J Cohen in 1889 and broken up.
HMS Daring (1893)
HMS Daring and HMS Decoy together made up the Daring class of torpedo boat destroyers which served with the Royal Navy during the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. On trial she made headlines as the 'Fastest Boat Ever'. The introduction of steam turbines after 1897 quickly made her and her sisters obsolete and she was sold off in 1912.
Construction
The ship was laid down as yard number 287 at the Thornycroft yard at Chiswick in July 1892. She was launched on 25 November 1893 following the naming ceremony by Mrs Thornycroft, the wife of the company founder John Isaac Thornycroft. Thornycroft records suggest that Decoy and Daring together cost £66,948, but a letter to the Austrian Naval Attaché stated that the vessels had cost the Admiralty of £36,840 per vessel.Daring commenced her trials off Gravesend on 17 January 1894 and soon moved to the measured mile at Maplin Sands near Southend. On 19 July she managed a speed of 28.21 knots over the measured mile, exceeding her design speed and earning her the sobriquet of the 'Fastest Boat Ever'. Her coal consumption trial on 18 September showed that on one ton of coal she could travel nearly 38 nautical miles at 10 knots on one boiler. She was completed in February 1895.
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