The Type 45 destroyers are considered the backbone of the Royal Navy, and as such, were supposed to be designed for worldwide operations, from sub-Arctic to extreme tropical environments.
But six of the 8,000-ton ships cruising the Persian Gulf, where the waters can get to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, have an Achilles’ heel. Engines on the ships are said to be cutting out, leaving the crew stranded, dead in the water, so to speak, until help arrives.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence is being accused by the contractors, Rolls-Royce of not informing the company the frigates would be spending long periods of time in the warm waters of the Persian Gulf, reports the Sun. The details of the faux pas came out during a defence select committee yesterday that left MP’s shocked at the poor state of the UK’s sea defences.
“The equipment is having to operate in far more arduous conditions than were initially required,” resulting in “total engine failure,” Rolls-Royce director Tomas Leahy said. Rolls-Royce is saying, though, that the ships were built to specifications and are being operated in climates not laid out in the specifications.
CNN reported the managing director of BAE Systems Maritime, John Hudson, supported Leahy’s comments, adding: “The operating profile at the time was that there would not be repeated or continuous operations in the Gulf.”
Each ship is equipped with two turbines that redistribute exhaust heat back to the engine. But in the hot waters of the Persian Gulf, the turbines slow down, and this creates a “domino effect” that leads to engine shutdown and, eventually, a complete power outage.
MP Douglas Chapman said, “I’m just absolutely stunned. It’s a [$1.4 billion] asset that you’re putting into perhaps a war zone, and we don’t know if these people … will go in there and come back out alive because there might be a problem with the power system on the ship.”
Because of the little misunderstanding over the specifications, millions of pounds will have to be spent on repairing the problem by fitting the Navy ships with extra fuel generators.
