HMS Dauntless heads out to fight drug trafficking
The Royal Navy’s most advanced destroyer has deployed to the Caribbean to support British Overseas Territories during hurricane season and counter drugs trafficking in the region.
HMS Dauntless left Portsmouth – waved off by loved ones – with brand new engines after becoming the first ship in her class to undergo the Power Improvement Programme.TheType45destroyer is now sailing across the Atlantic for missions across the Caribbean, having left Portsmouth last Tuesday, after a final weapons trial in the Channel yesterday.
Dauntless was declared ready for operations last month after nine intensive monthsoftraining,passingall demanding trials, tests and finallyagruellingassessmentof her crew and all weapons and systems.
The ship will be in the Caribbean
to respond quickly to natural disasters during the region’s hurricane season fromJunetoNovember,while visiting island communities as a reassuring presence, working with local services and authorities to ensure the most rapid and effective aid is providedshouldnaturestrike.
Dauntless will also patrol the Caribbean to counter illicit activities, in particular working with US Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies in the ongoing fight against drug trafficking in the region.
After several years out of action followed by nearly 12 months of intensive training at sea, the destroyer’s Commanding Officer, Commander Ben Power, said Dauntless was raring to prove herself on the world stage again.
‘It has been a phenomenal journey taking the ship from Liverpool following the upgrade to the power and propulsion system through to our departure on time for operations, which highlights the performance of the equipment and the dedication and hardworkofthecrew,’hesaid.
Chef James Bascran is among those who’s helped bring the destroyer back to life. ‘I have served as a chef with the ship through all the major phases of the regeneration from picking the first meal that would be cooked and served on board through to preparing to feed over two hundred people that are at their action station in under 75 minutes, it is great to now be taking the ship on deployment,’ he explained.