Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when defects were first noted in the pulsion system of the Type 45 destroyer.

Mr Philip Dunne

The decision to procure the Rolls Royce WR21 was taken in November 2000 by the then Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon. In announcing the decision, he accepted this decision "presents a greater degree of risk to the programme."

Following that decision a number of issues with the Type 45 Integrated Electrical Propulsion (IEP) system were identified when the First of Class, HMS Daring was launched in 2006.

From 2006 to the launch of the sixth and final Type 45 in October 2010, the Type 45 Destroyer class had around fifty minor design alterations directly attributable to the development of the Type 45 IEP system identified. The subsequent implementation process for acceptance of these alterations is necessarily rigorous to maintain safety and system design intent. As a result, the majority of Type 45 IEP alterations were implemented after the launch of the last of class.

A report was commissioned in 2011 to examine the reliability of the power and propulsion system in greater detail. This work was re-assessed in 2013 to examine the extent to which the issues identified in the report had been dealt with, (by changes to operating procedures and training) and establish which were not simply the problems associated with a new complex system.

As part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 the Government is committed to improving the Type 45’s power and propulsion system an ongoing Equipment Improvement Plan is successfully making further alterations to the existing power and propulsion system.

Over the last two years, Type 45 Destroyers have been routinely deployed to the Gulf to maintain a destroyer presence in the region, including HMS Defender’s support to US Carrier operations against Daesh.