The UK Royal Navy’s most advanced destroyer vessel HMS Dauntless has been deployed to the Caribbean for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, Governor Jane Owen has confirmed.
Owen, speaking on the Cayman Compass talkshow ‘The Resh Hour’ on 7 June, said the naval ship, a Type 45 destroyer, should be in the Caribbean within the next two to three weeks.
“It has around 200 people on board, I think, and, very importantly, those people have the sort of skills that we might need to respond to a natural disaster,” the governor said. “So you’ve got engineers and mechanics, and you’ve got lots of strong men and women with the capability to get out into the community and respond.”
The ship, she added, has a helicopter which “will be a useful adjunct to the two helicopters we’ve also got here on the island.”
Last year, the UK’s Royal Navy ship HMS Protector was deployed for hurricane season.
Owen said having a ship like HMS Dauntless is welcomed as “it will be there to support us whenever we need it”.
Owen added, “I’m really pleased that this is what we’ve got. I think it’s the best piece of kit that we could have asked for.”
According to a Royal Navy release on the ship’s deployment, the HMS Dauntless has three new efficient engines – replacing two original diesel units – to “ensure the 8,500-tonne destroyer has a more reliable, robust source of power to propel her through the water at speeds in excess of 32kts – and also power the cutting-edge equipment on board”.
The ship was declared ready for operations last month “after nine intensive months of training, passing all demanding trials, tests and finally a gruelling assessment of her crew and all weapons and systems”.
The HMS Dauntless will be in the Caribbean from June to November, the Royal Navy said, adding that it will be “visiting island communities as a reassuring presence, working with local services and authorities to ensure the most rapid and effective aid is provided should nature strike”.
Owen said no plan has been formalised for the ship to visit the Cayman Islands while it is deployed within the region.
“I think the ship will want to be pretty flexible in terms of its plans, so that it can be in the right place at the right time without having anything that’s too set, because I think it will want also to be able to respond to the weather patterns that are developing,” she said.
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.
HMS Dauntless Commanding Officer Ben Power, in the Navy press release, said Dauntless was “raring to prove herself on the world stage again” after several years out of action and nearly 12 months of intensive training at sea.
“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 hard work of the crew,” he said in the statement.
While in the Caribbean, HMS Dauntless will also head for ‘Exercise Unitas’ and mark the 200th anniversary of the Colombian Navy.
“Unitas (Latin for ‘united’) is the oldest and largest maritime exercise in the region dating back to 1959 as a South American and US regional exercise designed to demonstrate a united stance against the spread of the Soviet Union’s influence and presence in Latin America,” the Royal Navy statement said.
Related Videos
