Paladin-Class Destroyer
 Profile of Type-43 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: |
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| 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: |
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| Armament: |
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| 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.
Design
Although soon to be made obsolescent by the development of the vertical launch system, when introduced the Vigilant-Class was a highly competitive air defence ship, very capable of her primary role of protecting capital ships, such as the Royal Apilonian Navy’s aircraft carriers. Benefiting from the new systems and lessons learned in the abortive Type-82 and Type-42 destroyers, of which only the class leader of each ever entered service due to numerous shortcomings, the Vigilant-Class was, as a result, the most powerful and most advanced destroyer design possible at the time of her introduction into service. Boasting a powerful air search and fire control radar suite, combined with two twin-arm Sea Dart missile launchers, the Vigilant-Class was highly effective at engaging enemy targets at high altitudes, and despite some shortcomings in sea-skimming attacks was effective at low-flying aircraft. In no small part to avoid the shortcomings associated with low-and-fast attacks, the Vigilant-Class was also equipped with the GWS.25 Sea Wolf missile, which was far more effective at low-level aircraft, particularly overland, giving the Vigilant-Class a well-rounded air defence capability.
In addition, unlike the Type-82 destroyer (which is part of the reason that design wasn’t chosen), the Vigilant-Class is also equipped with Broadsword (Sea Eagle, Mk.4) anti-ship missiles, giving her some anti-surface capability, as well as an air complement of two Lynx helicopters for some anti-submarine warfare capability, along with her on-board torpedo tubes. The Vigilant-Class also continued the unique RAN tradition of retaining twin turrets on its escort’s for their naval guns, as well as retaining the larger 6-inch emplacements over smaller weapons as was becoming more common internationally. As a result of this, the Vigilant-Class, whilst clearly optimised for air defence, was far better equipped than the two failed designs for a wider role in the fleet, for much the same price, resulting in far better value for money as far as the Admiralty was concerned.