The Myth:: The Type 45 Destroyers are tied up broken down

The Truth:: They’re not

It’s a common myth that out T45s are all tied up as they have broken down.

This story came from a newspaper article that has since been clarified.

While working in the Persian Gulf, a problem was found with the exhaust gas recouperators that tripped out some systems onboard.

A recouperator is a type of heat exchanger that takes heat from the gas turbine exhaust, and creates steam that’s used to run other systems. It is not an “intercooler” as the cybernats and some of our media claim, but does reduce the temperature of the emitted exhaust gas to lower the vessels thermal signature.

The fault only happens in areas of very warm seawater, so only hampers the ships while in those areas. It doesn’t have any effect elsewhere in the world.

Rolls Royce, who supplied the WR-21 Turbines has fully accepted their equipment was at fault, and no longer uses the WR-21 engines.

The engine “repairs” actually consist of a major upgrade to the ships that was planned anyway, but has been brought forward.

The 2x21MW WR-21 Turbines have been completely overhauled, and has new recouperators fitted.,

Power generation has been upgraded from 2x2MW generators to 3x3MW units. 1000s of meters of cabling was replaced, crew accommodation has been upgraded, weapons systems, radars, sensors upgraded, and more. Each vessel got a major refurbishment, not just an “engine repair”

The Power Improvement Program cost £160m for all 5 vessels, not the £1.5bn the cybernats claim it has (they are notorious for adding a zero to a number, usually with numbers on their marches).

Each vessel came out of service in turn for the upgrades. They were not “all out of service” as the hard of thinking claim.