Vigilant-Class Destroyer
 Profile of Type-45 Vigilant Class Destroyer
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Vigilant-Class Destroyer |
| Builders: | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard |
| Operators: | Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Paladin-Class Destroyer |
| Cost: | Approx. $1.2 billion |
| Built: | 2004 - Present |
| In service: | 2009 - Present |
| In commission: | 2010 - Present |
| Planned: | 48 |
| Building: | 18 |
| Completed: | 30 |
| Active: | 30 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG) |
| Displacement: | 10,720 Tonnes |
| Length: | 168.4m (552 feet 6 inches) |
| Beam: | 21.7m (71 feet 2 inches) |
| Draft: | 7.9 m ( 25 feet 11 inches) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | +32 kn |
| Range: | 8,000 Nautical Miles |
| Boats & landing craft carried: | 2 x 5.5-meter RHIB inflatable boats |
| Complement: | Ship's Company: 225 |
| 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 Vigilant-Class destroyer, also known as the Type-45 Destroyer, is a class of forty-eight guided missile destroyers build for the Royal Apilonian Navy. Designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare, the Vigilant-Class is touted as one of the world's most advanced and capable air defence ships, combining the Sea Viper missile with the powerful SAMPSON active electronically scanned array (AESA) and S1850M long range air search radars. The Vigilant-Class has been designed and build by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where all eight construction slips have been dedicated to its construction, and are intended to replace the aging Paladin-Class (Type-43) destroyers that have served as the backbone of the Navy's escort force for decades, with all but sixteen examples now out of service and eight more due to follow by the end of 2021 as Batch V construction completes outfitting and sea trials. Given that the Vigilant-Class is designed, during an intensive attack, to track, engage and destroy more targets than five Type-43 destroyers operating together, and that the Admiralty has secure a like-for-like replacement, the entry into service of the class represents a substantial upgrade to the Royal Apilonian Navy's air defence capability.
The Vigilant-Class has suffered from some issues operating in warmer climates, however this flaw was identified and resolved quickly, given standing commitments in both the Pacific and the Persian Gulf, with new construction recieving the resolution as standard.
Design
The Vigilant-Class Destroyer that entered service with the Royal Apilonian Navy is, effectively, a slightly lengthened and enhanced version of the original design, the extra length principally being used to increase the destroyer’s already formidable missile armament. As an air warfare destroyer, the Vigilant-Class is built around the SAMPSON Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, one of (if not the) most advanced such naval radar in the world, with additional capability provided by the S1850M air surveillance radar, with the two systems complementing each other to provide a full, accurate and detailed air picture. Both radars are combined with a command and control system to make the Sea Viper missile system, which are fed into the ASTER family of missiles which makes up the firepower of the Sea Viper system, which is optimised for defending against enemy missiles which may be stealthy, sea-skimming, supersonic, or indeed all free, and which will arrive with little notice in closely-spaced salvos capable of high-G evasive maneuverers. As such, the entire Sea Viper system is designed to defend against the most advanced and capable threat missiles known to exist, and will stand in very good steading against future threats. In addition to it’s long-range capabilities, the Vigilant-Class is also equipped with shorter-ranged Sea Ceptor missiles, quad-packed into VLS cells, which provide a potent point defence capability.
Although optimised for air defence, the Vigilant-Class retains some general purpose capabilities. In addition to its twin 6-inch naval guns, continuing a long Royal Apilonian Navy tradition of retaining twin emplacements into the 21st Century, the Vigilant-Class is also equipped with Storm Shadow cruise missiles (in the VLS cells, typically those amidships), two 4-canister missile launchers for the Broadsword (Sea Eagle, Mk.4) anti-ship missile as well as both 30mm autocannons and 35mm CIWS for defensive duties. In addition, the Vigilant-Class is capable of carrying two Lynx Wildcat helicopters to provide a limited anti-submarine warfare capability, although these ships are notoriously loud for modern warships, but will typically be operating in relatively close proximity to larger, and louder, capital ships in any case, and as such operating alongside friendly submarines.
History
The Royal Apilonian Navy recognized, by the 1990s, that a new class of air defence guided missile destroyers would be required to take advantage of technological developments and changing threat profiles. Although the mainline air defence destroyer of the day, the Paladin-Class Destroyer (or Type-43) was only relatively young, the Paladins had had a fitful development process, with the Type-81 and the Type-42 both being seen by the Admiralty as false starts, as such by the time the Paladin design was authorised and entered production, technology was rapidly advancing. As such, the Bureau of Ships was faced with the politically unenviable task of replacing relatively young ships, and as a result the design of the Vigilant-Class had to be sufficiently more advanced than the ships they were replacing. In response, the Bureau of Ships designed a destroyer that they intended to be the most advanced air defence ship in the world, and were successfully in convincing Parliament that they were a sufficiently large step forward to justify replacing the Paladins. In 2002 the construction contract was given to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, which began construction on the first batch in 2004, with an estimated construction time of three years followed by a two year period for full outfitting and sea trials.
As such, the first ship in the class, HMS Vigilant herself, entered service in 2009, replacing HMS Paladin, itself only a little over twenty years old, who was immediately offered to friendly nations for sale. The Vigilant-Class has proven to be an effective and well-liked ship, with crew comfort unheard on a surface vessel, and aside from a few minor issues operating in hot climates, since fixed, the Vigilant-Class now serves as the trusted shield of the fleet.