HMS ''Dragon'' is the fourth ship of the Type 45 or ''Daring''-class air-defence destroyers built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

. She was launched in November 2008 and commissioned on 20 April 2012.

Construction

''Dragon''s construction began at the then

BAE Systems Naval Ships BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

(later BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions) yard at

Scotstoun Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Cly ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

in December 2005, and by December 2007 the bow section was in place on the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south b ...

slipway for mating with the other modules. ''Dragon'' launched from the slipway at

on 17 November 2008 at 3:00pm. Her sponsor was Mrs Susie Boissier, wife of Vice Admiral Paul Boissier, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet and Chief of Staff. She was fitted out at

Sea trials

''Dragon'' commenced her first set of contractor's sea trials on 5 November 2010. ''Dragon'' entered her home port of Portsmouth for the first time on 31 August 2011.

Operational service

British F-35 Jets land on board HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier MOD 45165431

''Dragon'' joined the Royal Navy Surface Fleet on Friday, 20 April 2012. On Friday 27 April, she made her maiden visit to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, staying for three days. She opened to the public on Saturday 28 April, with visitors able to see the inside of the ship, including the operations room. In August 2013, it was reported ''Dragon'' was sailing with the carrier group in the Arabian Sea, acting as the main point ship for aircraft control. In August 2013, several

Typhoons A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for ...

from No. 6 Squadron RAF were exercising with ''Dragon'' and US fighters in the Gulf. It sailed westward to the Eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

. In April 2014, ''Dragon'' was deployed to waters north of Scotland, after sailing from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

to track the Russian warship . She was part of the Royal Navy's Atlantic Patrol Tasking in late 2014, visiting places such as the

South Georgia Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

, the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubou ...

, and a transit through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

. October 2016, ''Dragon'' tracked two Russian corvettes in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

and

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

during a major deployment of Russian naval forces near the United Kingdom. On 11 February 2017, ''Dragon'' rescued the fourteen crew of the dismasted and adrift British yacht ''Clyde Challenger'' in the Atlantic Ocean south west of

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it i ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

. ''Clyde Challenger'' was subsequently scuttled. A 26 November 2018 press-release claimed ''Dragon'' discovered a suspicious boat while on operation in the Middle East. Sailors and Royal Marines boarded the vessel, and found 148 bags containing 3,048kg of

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a cannabis (drug), drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. Eu ...

. 15 March 2019, ''Dragon'' made its seventh drug seizure: 224kg of heroin from a fishing vessel in the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. During her time in the Arabian Sea, ''Dragon'' made eight drug busts and seized over eighteen tons of narcotics, a record for the number of successful busts and the total weight of drugs seized by a Royal Navy ship in the Middle East. As of March 2019, took over the current patrol role in the Middle East.

HMS Montrose HMS ''Montrose'' has been the name of two ships of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy: * , a ''Scott''-class (or Admiralty-type) destroyer leader that served throughout World War II and was scrapped in 1946. * , a Type 23 frigate launched in 1992 and ...

replaced ''Dragon'' in the Persian gulf in March 2019.

Characteristics

''Dragon'' features a red

Welsh Dragon The Welsh Dragon ( cy, y Ddraig Goch, meaning 'the red dragon'; ) is a heraldic symbol that represents Wales and appears on the national flag of Wales. As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King o ...

on each side of her bow, the only Royal Navy ship to be adorned in this way. The dragons were there when she was launched, but were removed in a 2011 refit. They were restored in 2016 following a fundraising campaign led by the British Warships Association.

Affiliations

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, Wales *

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

, England *The Royal Thames Yacht Club *The

Worshipful Company of Plaisterers The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers is one of the livery companies in the City of London. The Plaisterers' Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1501 and whilst the spelling used in the charter was "Plaisterer", some later charters ...

*The Welsh Livery Guild *Royal Navy recognised Sea Scout Groups of http://www.tir-a-mor-scouts.org.uk which are 1st Barry Sea Scouts, 5th Barry Sea Scouts and 6th Barry Sea Scouts RN97 *South Wales District

Sea Cadets Sea cadets are members of a sea cadet corps, a formal uniformed youth organisation for young people with an interest in waterborne activities and or the national navy. The organisation may be sponsored in whole or in part by the navy or a naval s ...

*The

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

In popular culture

''Dragon'' appeared in ''

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Cary ...

'', the 25th film of the ''James Bond'' series. The film inaccurately depicts the Type 45’s Aster Surface-to-Air missiles as land attack missiles. Shooting for ''Dragon’s'' role in the film’s finale took place off the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

in September of 2019.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon (D35) Type 45 destroyers Ships built on the River Clyde 2008 ships Destroyers of the United Kingdom