HMForces.co.uk

Education >> Browse Articles >> The Royal Navy Fleet

HMS Dauntless: Type 45 Destroyer

HMS Dauntless

5 ships and one shore establishment have been named HMS Dauntless.

Launched in 1804 and commissioned in 18056 the first vessel to bear the name of Dauntless was an 18 gun Combatant Class Sloop built at the William Gibson Shipyard in Hull. A shallow draught vessel Dauntless was ordered to sail up the Vistula River on 19th May 1807 to resupply the Prussian Army with over 500 barrels of gunpowder. The ship ran aground and was surrendered to the French after having been bombarded by artillery fire for over an hour.

The second HMS Dauntless was a Cormorant Class Ship-Sloop built at Deptford Dockyard. Launched in December 1808 and commissioned in July 1809 Dauntless was paid off at the end of the Napoleonic Wars but was recommissioned in late 1818. Before being paid off in October 1823 Dauntless visited China, Australia, New Zealand and South America. She was sold for breaking in 1825.

Built at Portsmouth Dockyard the third vessel to be named Dauntless was launched in January 1847 and commissioned in August 1850. Originally ordered as a paddle ship she was redesigned and launched as a wooden hulled steam screw frigate weighing 2,457 tons. Dauntless served on the North American and West Indies Station where 83 of her crew died of yellow fever en-route to, and in hospital, on arrival at Barbados. At the start of the Crimean War Dauntless transferred to the Black Sea Fleet where she took part in the bombardment of Sevastopol and Kinburn as well as providing officers and men for the Naval Brigade. Returned to UK to pay off in 1857 Dauntless was recommissioned two years later as the Coastguard base ship at Southampton and seven years later relocated to the Humber in the same role. Reclassified as a tender in 1870 she continued to serve on the Humber until returning to Devonport in 1878 where she was laid up prior to being sold for breaking in mid 1885.

Launched in April 1917 and commissioned in November 1918 the fourth HMS Dauntless, weighing 4,650 tons and capable of 30 knots, was a Danae Light Class Cruiser built at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company. With WWI at an end Dauntless deployed to the Baltic where she operated against the Bolsheviks in Russia. Dauntless was a member of the Empire Cruise of 1923/24 and after a tour in the Mediterranean was decommissioned. Recommissioned in 1928 she deployed to the America and West Indies Station where she was badly damaged after running aground off Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was refloated and repaired before being reduced to the reserve fleet in late 1929. Taken back into service in 1930 she returned to the America and West Indies Station for a few years before returning to UK in 1935 and paid off into the reserve fleet – only to be recommissioned at the start of WWII and sent to the 9th Cruiser Squadron, South Atlantic Command. Transferred to the China Station in December 1939 she saw service in the Indian Ocean and Dutch East Indies. Dauntless returned to UK for refitting in February 1942 before deploying to the Eastern Fleet. Returning to UK in 1943 she was used as a training ship before transfer to the reserve fleet in February 1945 and eventually sold for scrap and breaking in April 1946.

The fifth HMS Dauntless was a shore establishment located at Burghfield, near Reading, Berkshire. It was used as the Women’s Royal Naval Service Training Establishment for the period 1947 until 1981.

The sixth HMS Dauntless is a Type 45 Air Defence Destroyer. The second of the new air defence destroyers Dauntless was launched at BAE Systems’ Govan Shipyard in Glasgow on 23rd January 2007 by the ships sponsor Lady Burnell-Nugent, wife of Admiral Sir James Michael Burnell-Nugent KCB, CBE, ADC who, when Dauntless was launched was Commander-in-Chief Fleet.

Dauntless arrived at HMNB Portsmouth on 2nd December 2009 after extensive sea trials where power, propulsion, weapon and communication systems were tested. The vessel was handed over by her builders, BAE Systems, to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Vice Admiral Richard Ibbotson, on behalf of the Royal Navy on 3rd December 2009.

Since being handed over to the Royal Navy HMS Dauntless has undertaken an extensive period of Operational Sea Training designed to further acquaint and practice the crew on the capabilities of the ship and in March 2010 undertook joint sea trials with HMS Astute, the first of the Royal Navy’s new Astute Class nuclear powered attack submarines.

Affiliated with Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Great Yarmouth HMS Dauntless was commissioned into the fleet on 3rd June 2010 at HMNB Portsmouth. The commissioning ceremony was attended by the ships sponsor, Lady Mary Burnell-Nugent, and Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar.

HMNB Portsmouth will be HMS Dauntless’ home port.

The Royal Navy has the following Type 45 Destroyers in the fleet:

• HMS Daring

• HMS Diamond

• HMS Dragon

• HMS Defender

• HMS Duncan

Previous Section: The Current Ships of the Royal Navy

See our Short History of the Royal Navy and Aircraft Carriers of the Royal Navy

Destroyers
Type 42 Destroyers
Type 45 Destroyers