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HMS Dauntless (D33)
Organisation / Units & Squadrons

HMS Dauntless (D33)

HMS Dauntless is the second ship of the Daring Class. Together, the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers are among the most advanced warships ever constructed.

HMS Dauntless

Role

Using the fearsome Sea Viper anti-air missile system, HMS Dauntless defends her fellow ships from enemy attack. She was the first of the Daring Class to fire the Sea Viper missile, which travels at over 18,000mph.

What really sets the Daring Class apart is its versatility. Outside of her air defence role, HMS Dauntless has the ability to carry out a huge range of war-fighting and constabulary duties, from counter-narcotics boarding operations, acting as a task group flagship or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Daring Class

Unit history

1804

The First Dauntless

The first Dauntless is an 18-gun sloop launched at Hull in November of 1804. After running aground during a battle on the Vistula river in 1807 she is forced to surrender to the French.
1804

The First Dauntless

The first Dauntless is an 18-gun sloop launched at Hull in November of 1804. After running aground during a battle on the Vistula river in 1807 she is forced to surrender to the French.
1808

Second HMS Dauntless

The second HMS Dauntless is launched only a year after the loss of the first. A 26-gun sloop, she serves on the African coast and escorts convoys during the Napoleonic wars.
1808

Second HMS Dauntless

The second HMS Dauntless is launched only a year after the loss of the first. A 26-gun sloop, she serves on the African coast and escorts convoys during the Napoleonic wars.
1854

Battle honours

The third HMS Dauntless is a 24-gun frigate launched in 1847, earning the first battle honours for her name: Baltic 1854 and Crimea 1854-55.
1918

The Fourth Dauntless

A Danae class cruiser built in 1918, the fourth Dauntless sees extensive action in the Second World War, spending the final years of the conflict as a training vessel before being broken up in 1946.
1918

The Fourth Dauntless

A Danae class cruiser built in 1918, the fourth Dauntless sees extensive action in the Second World War, spending the final years of the conflict as a training vessel before being broken up in 1946.
1946

Battle honours

In 1939, shortly after the start of the Second World War, Dauntless takes part in the occupation of the French Comoros Islands and Madagascar, earning her battle honours.
1954

The Fifth Dauntless

The next Dauntless is a shore establishment near Reading – the WRNS training centre from 1953 to 1981. The Association of Wrens has formed a strong bond with the new Dauntless.
2003

Hollywood

Possibly the most famous Dauntless of all is a fictional one; it is the flagship of the Royal Navy in the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean.
2010

The Type 45 Destroyer

The Type 45 air defence destroyer joins the Fleet in November 2010, shortly after being the first of class to fire the new Sea Viper missile.

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