The second of four new Type 45 destroyers to go for sea trials off the west coast of Scotland yesterday left the Clyde.
HMS Dauntless, which is expected to enter service in 2010, will be tested primarily for power and propulsion, weapons and communications systems by engineers and Royal Navy personnel who will eventually form her permanent crew.
It follows the successful sea trials of sister ship HMS Daring, which was the first to be launched. Next in line is HMS Diamond and the fourth Type 45, HMS Dragon, will be launched on Monday.
Two more are due to be built, although the order represents half of the 12 warships originally planned.
Vic Emery, the Clyde managing director of BVT Surface Fleet, said: "Every member of the team that has worked on Dauntless from the apprentice welders through to the combat systems engineers have done an excellent job getting the ship to this stage, and I want to congratulate them on what they have achieved."
The launch of HMS Dragon on Monday is expected to draw large crowds to the BVT Surface Fleet yard at Govan in Glasgow.
More than 12,000 tickets have already been issued to spectators, many of them to children from schools across the west of Scotland.
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