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Not so Dauntless…(Royal) Navy's £1 billion warship blacked out by a £10 fuse
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | PUBLISHED: 16:00 EST, 5 May 2012 | UPDATED: 16:00 EST, 5 May 2012 | Christopher Leake

Posted on 05/11/2012 10:41:41 PM PDT by Olog-hai

Bristling with cutting-edge technology and carrying an awesome array of weaponry, the Royal Navy’s new destroyer HMS Dauntless is said to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful warships.

But the £1 billion ($1.61 billion) vessel was left helpless and stranded—when a £10 ($16) fuse apparently blew.

Dauntless was left without power and plunged into darkness.

According to one source on board, the ship was ‘drifting for several minutes’ before the fault was corrected.

No official cause for the problem has been given, but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been adjusted to take account of the fact that the destroyer had entered an area of higher sea and air temperatures. …

Dauntless is the first of the Navy’s six new Type 45 destroyers to operate in tropical waters.

The incident is a huge embarrassment to the Ministry of Defense and Dauntless’ commander, Captain Will Warrender, particularly as his 190-strong crew had spent the previous week training sailors from Senegal, Gambia and Morocco on how to board suspect vessels. …

Dauntless was the second of the six new Type 45 destroyers to be commissioned.

The total cost of the project to the Navy was £6.5 billion—£1.5 billion more than the original estimate.

In 2007, the Commons Defense Select Committee expressed its disappointment that the Ministry of Defense and defense contractor BAE Systems had failed to control rising costs. …

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: dauntless; falklands; fuse; royalnavy
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1 posted on 05/11/2012 10:41:43 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

The purpose of shakedown cruises.


2 posted on 05/11/2012 10:52:26 PM PDT by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: Olog-hai

That particular fuse had better be well protected and they better have a hundred extra backups.


3 posted on 05/11/2012 11:08:54 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Just stick a penny or a nickel in the slot. Should fix it right up for the rest of the cruise! LOL!


4 posted on 05/11/2012 11:21:00 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Olog-hai

I’m truly dumbfounded that the loss of a single fuse could cripple the entire ship. There’s either more to this story, or someone in their naval design bureau needs a good, hard kick in the seat of the pants.


5 posted on 05/11/2012 11:58:05 PM PDT by DemforBush (A Repo man is *always* intense!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine; Secret Agent Man

Just hope the “off” switch is well protected.


6 posted on 05/11/2012 11:59:27 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus sum)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
What if you needed that penny for the loo . . . ?
7 posted on 05/12/2012 12:00:42 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: DemforBush

I’m reminded, btw, of a Swiss tank design in the 70s/80s that had a similarly embarrassing electronic problem. The Panzer 68 had several instances where systems shared circuits. This included the heater sharing circuits with the main gun’s fire controls. So, when a crew tried to warm up on a frosty alpine morning at the firing range, the main gun had a tendency to fire of its own accord shortly thereafter.


8 posted on 05/12/2012 12:06:08 AM PDT by DemforBush (A Repo man is *always* intense!)
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To: Olog-hai

Lucas (The Prince of Darkness) Electric strikes again.


9 posted on 05/12/2012 1:13:38 AM PDT by MCF
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To: Olog-hai
Better than throwing a propeller.

(Or building the thing to damn short in the first place)

10 posted on 05/12/2012 2:31:30 AM PDT by mountn man (Happiness is not a destination, its a way of life.)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: mountn man

All that is needed is to create jobs.

So what if it shakes when they do the laundry.

Still more employees needed for the repair!


12 posted on 05/12/2012 2:46:45 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (The best is the enemy of the good!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

They used a penny for arming the british nukes, didn’t they?


13 posted on 05/12/2012 3:10:54 AM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (nobody gives me warheads anyway))
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To: Hardraade
They used a penny for arming the british nukes, didn’t they?

I knew pennies were useful for something! BTW, I vastly prefer fuses to circuit breakers, the problem with them is tampering, like using a penny to energize an overloaded circuit. All the military systems I'm familiar with use GFI circuit breakers to allow resets in the case of a temporary fault.

14 posted on 05/12/2012 4:01:49 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
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To: Olog-hai

I still think it looks like an ithyphallic AEGIS.

15 posted on 05/12/2012 4:38:08 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
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To: MCF
Lucas (The Prince of Darkness) Electric strikes again.

Best reply ever!

16 posted on 05/12/2012 5:09:38 AM PDT by paulcissa (The first requirement of Liberalism is to stand on your head and tell the world they're upside down)
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To: Olog-hai

“but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been adjusted to take account of the fact that the destroyer had entered an area of higher sea and air temperatures. … “

So... instead of ruining $30 million dollars worth of cooling system equipment, or $60 million dollars worth of engine, a $16 fuse blows.

Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?


17 posted on 05/12/2012 9:44:20 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: DemforBush
There’s either more to this story

The only missing part is that SOMEONE wasn't doing their job.

The fuse blew and disabled the ship so that it's 'complicated cooling system' wasn't destroyed. The FUSE was doing it's job.

Whoever and whatever was responsible for adjusting the system due to changes in the sea water temp and air temp, was not.

18 posted on 05/12/2012 9:48:57 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: UCANSEE2

It’s not supposed to shut the whole ship down. Does your car’s engine stop running when your air conditioner fuse blows?


19 posted on 05/12/2012 11:01:45 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Just stick a penny or a nickel in the slot. Should fix it right up for the rest of the cruise! LOL!

Penny in the slot is "too big to fail."

20 posted on 05/12/2012 12:42:09 PM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
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