HMS Daring, the first Type 45, was launched in 2006. The 80-series designation indicates a destroyer class larger than the standard, which when we bear in mind the Type 45s displace over 8,000 tons, suggests that the Type 83s could potentially be cruiser-sized vessels. The last 80-series ship class was the Type 82 Destroyer, of which only one ended up being built (HMS Bristol). We also have to bear in mind the announcement of the Type 83 Destroyer. We could potentially see an announcement of a 4-ship class to replace the Albion, Bulwark and incorporate the Littoral Strike Ship plan, but for the time being this is just speculation. The issue with this is that the lack of funding isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and with HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark due to leave service in 2033-34, the Royal Navy is going to need a replacement for these two ships. This may have been due to recognition that the budget for a new class of amphibious vessel doesn’t presently exist, bear in mind that funding for new classes is currently heavily directed towards the Type 31 Frigates, SSN(R) replacement for the Astute-class and the Dreadnought-class SSBN projects (not to mention the upcoming unmanned mine-warfare vessels). Those paying attention to the announcements will have noticed that mention of the plans for a new class of ‘Littoral Strike Ship’ disappeared and instead funding to modify an existing Bay-class vessel seemingly replaced the concept. Yes, the Integrated Review has promised that the UK surface combatant numbers will increase again (eventually becoming 6x Type 45 Destroyers, 8x Type 26 Frigates, 5x Type 31 Frigates and an unknown number of Type 32 Frigates), but promises can be broken, and at the moment the Type 32 Frigate is not technically confirmed in budget plans – it was merely announced by PM Boris Johnson. You will absolutely not regret it.īut as with all promises of hope and good news, it’s probably worth not getting too excited just yet. You can find him on twitter here, we fully recommend you go and follow him. Although his day job is not defence-related, his knowledge and passion for the topic and Open Sources Intelligence (OSINT) has led to almost 4,000 followers on Twitter and he assists the UK Defence Journal team as the server Administrator and developer for the UK Defence Community Discord server. The DefenceGeek is a self-proclaimed #avgeek with an involvement in the RAF and MoD since 2013. This article was submitted to the UK Defence Journal By Jon who many of you know as Defence Geek on Twitter and Discord. With Wildcat and the various new anti-ship missiles now well into operational service, the UK Carrier Strike Group 21 having departed on the first combat deployment yesterday and the revelations of the overdue Integrated Defence Review indicating that the Navy will grow in the coming years (unlike the RAF and Army), it’s hard not to be overjoyed for the UK’s oldest Armed Forces branch. It’s fair to say that of all the branches of HM Armed Forces, the Royal Navy has the most reason to be hopeful at the start of 2021. The Royal Navy’s future is looking bright, but let’s not count the chickens just yet…
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