It’s comforting to know that HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy’s latest Type 45 destroyers launched on Wednesday, is fitted with the most advanced state-of-the-art weapons and defence systems. For instance:
[…] The main armament for the new destroyers will be the world-beating Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS) – a collaboration between the UK, France and Italy. This capability represents a major step forward for the Royal Navy, putting the UK at the cutting edge of area Anti Air Warfare and ensuring that the Type 45 can defend her consorts and allies for decades to come.
The new generation of missiles could be sea-skimming, high-diving, supersonic, stealthy or highly manoeuvrable. Attacks could come from any direction and in salvoes. With its advanced combat system, the Type 45 will greatly enhance the ability of the Royal Navy to defend its warships and other vessels it is accompanying from anti-ship missiles and from attacks by aircraft and land-based threats.
More comforting for the crew, perhaps, is their living environment:
[…] HMS Daring’s 230-strong crew should be happy too. She and her sisters will be the first “gender-neutral” warships to enter Royal Navy service, and the Hotel Facilities, as the living quarters are known, are the most opulent ever fitted in a British warship. Mess decks are replaced by individual cabins, each with their own I-pod charging points, CD player, internet access, five channel recreational audio and larger berths.
(Bold text is my emphasis.)
No jokes about this in this post! It’s not too far-fetched to look at the iPodding of the crew’s quarters, with its internet access as well, as a podcasting opportunity for the Navy as an employer to communicate with the crew as employees in a new and interesting way…
(Via Engadget)