Paladin-Class Destroyer

Class overview
Name:	Paladin-Class Destroyer
Builders:	Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Operators:	Royal Apilonian Navy
Preceded by:	Jubilant-Class Destroyer
Succeeded by:	Vigilant-Class Destroyer
Built:	1983 - 2001
In service:	1987 - Present
In commission:	1988 - Present
Planned:	48
Completed:	48
Active:	16
Retired:	30
Preserved:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG)
Displacement:	7,570 Tonnes
Length:	172.69m (566 feet 7 inches)
Beam:	19.61m (64 feet 4 inches)
Draft:	9.1 m (29 feet 10 inches)
Propulsion:	CODAG, 2 Shafts, Controllable-Pitch Propellers 4x Royal Royce MT Gas Turbines 2x265NV Turbodiesel Cruise Engines 8x Electric Motors, 9,000 shp each
Speed:	+32 kn
Range:	7,400 Nautical Miles at 18 Knots
Boats & landing craft carried:	2 x 5.5-meter RHIB inflatable boats
Complement:	Ship's Company: 244
Sensors and processing systems:	1x Type 1022 Air Search Radar 1x Type 1047 Navigation Radar 4x Type 909 Sea Dart Fire Control Radar 2x Type 925 Seawolf Fire Control Radar 1x Type 992Q 3D Surveillance Radar 1x MFS-7000 Sonar
Armament:	2x 155mm/52-caliber naval Mark-8B Naval Guns 2x GWS.30 Twin-Arm Sea Dart Missile Launchers (1 Fore, 1 Aft, 96 Missles Total) 3x GWS.25 Sea Wolf Missile Launchers (1 Port, 1 Starboard, 1 Aft, 18 Missiles, 54 Reloads) 2 x 4-canister Broadsword AShM missile launchers 2 x 35mm Goalkeeper CIWS 2x 12.75 triple torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	2 x Westland AW159 Wildcat or 1 x AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin

The Paladin-Class destroyer, also known as the Type-43 Destroyer, is a class of forty-eight guided missile destroyers built for the Royal Apilonian Navy, of which sixteen remain in service, being replaced by the Vigilant-Class Destroyer. Designed for the air defence role, the Paladin-Class was the backbone of the Navy’s capability in this regard, equipped with the Sea Dart missile. The development of the Paladin-Class, or rather the Admiralty’s efforts to replace the Jubilant-Class Destroyer, had a fitful development with several designs, such as the Type-82 and Type-42 believed to be an adequate replacement before shortcomings were identified once the prototype design had been constructed. As a result, the Jubilant-Class remained in service longer than desirable and the Paladin-Class entered service later than ideal, as naval analysists at the Bureau of Ships (BuShips) believed it unlikely that the Navy would get a full hull-life from any of the ships before advancing technology required an entirely new design. This would proven prophetic, as less than four years after the last Paladin was commissioned the first of the Vigilant-Class was laid down at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. By the time HMS Vigilant replaced HMS Paladin, the latter had only been in service for just over twenty-years, a lifespan that would be broadly similar for other ships, given estimated construction times for the entire Vigilant-Class.

Never the less, the Paladin-Class was sufficient for the Navy of her day; large and well-armed it was only the advancement of technology, most notably the vertical-launch system, that threatened to make the Paladin obsolescent in a first-rate navy. The Bureau of Weapons (BuWeaps) has continued to develop upgrades for the Sea Dart and Sea Dart missiles, as well as the Paladin-Class’ sensor suite, in order to keep the ship capable of defending against enemy attacks, although she is ill-suited for modern, saturation attacks, as such the remaining ships of the Paladin-Class, of which sixteen remain with another eight due to be de-commissioned as Batch-V Vigilant-Class ships enter service by the end of 2020, are typially deployed to low-threat environments, or against foes lacking modern weapons, freeing up the Vigilant-Class for higher-threat operations. Some of the ships retired from the Royal Apilonian Navy have found service in other navies, particularly those with a colonial link to Apilonia.