THE Clyde-built Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Dauntless has suffered an electrical overload off the coast of Senegal.
The crew of the £1 billion Type 45 Destroyer, which was built in Govan, had to isolate low-priority systems on the ship after the incident. One report suggested it was caused by a £10 fuse blowing and a source said Dauntless was left drifting for several minutes.
However, a spokesman for the Royal Navy said the vessel, which is one of the UK's newest and most powerful warships, denied report that the ship was left drifting and said its propellers were not switched off.
The spokesman said of last Sunday's incident: "Every new class of ship has teething problems. HMS Dauntless was not left drifting and her propellers did not stop.
"An electrical overload did occur and to ensure essential systems remained powered, low-priority systems were briefly isolated until the problem was fixed.
"Ships have their own characteristics and it takes time for the ship's company to learn them in every environment."
HMS Dauntless, which sailed out of Portsmouth last month on its maiden voyage, is the first of the Royal Navy's six new destroyers to operate in tropical waters. The latest destroyers are Type 45 and they have all been built or are being built in Glasgow by BAE Systems.
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